Cosmic X-ray Background Nanosatellite-2 (CXBN-2 or CXBN 2) was a satellite and mission developed by the

Morehead State University Morehead State University (MSU) is a public university in Morehead, Kentucky, United States. The university began as Morehead Normal School, which opened its doors in 1887. The Craft Academy for Excellence in Science and Mathematics, a two-yea ...

to follow up on the

CXBN Cosmic X-ray Background Nanosatellite (CXBN) was a satellite and mission developed by the Morehead State University. Unlike its successor, it was a partial failure as its transmissions were too weak for its mission due to it going into an anoma ...

mission launched in 2012. It was an improved version of the previous spacecraft and it increased the precision of measurements of the cosmic X-ray background in the 30-50

keV In physics, an electronvolt (symbol eV), also written electron-volt and electron volt, is the measure of an amount of kinetic energy gained by a single electron accelerating through an electric potential difference of one volt in vacuum. When us ...

range and helped to improve understanding of the early universe.

Objectives

The CXBN-2 mission was created in order to map the extragalactic cosmic X-ray background with the use of a Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) detector. Compared to its predecessor, its CZT detector had twice the detection area. It allowed for a new, high-precision measurement of the X-ray background. It helped improve understanding of the origin and evolution of the universe through research on high-energy background radiation. It collected 3 million seconds of data throughout its lifetime.

Design

The CXBN-2 satellite was a Sun-pointing

spin-stabilized In aerospace engineering, spin stabilization is a method of stabilizing a satellite or launch vehicle by means of spin, i.e. rotation along the longitudinal axis. The concept originates from conservation of angular momentum as applied to ballistic ...

CubeSat A CubeSat is a class of small satellite with a form factor of cubes. CubeSats have a mass of no more than per unit,, url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5418c831e4b0fa4ecac1bacd/t/5f24997b6deea10cc52bb016/1596234122437/CDS+REV14+2020-07-3 ...

which had four solar panels which provided 15W of power. It had a 2-wall structure and braces to reinforce its body. When it was in its compact form, it occupied a volume of 10 x 10 x 20cm. It had two transceivers in the

Ultra high frequency Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter ...

and

S band The S band is a designation by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for a part of the microwave band of the electromagnetic spectrum covering frequencies from 2 to 4 gigahertz (GHz). Thus it crosses the conventiona ...

s for radio communication.

Instruments

CXBN-2 contained a Cadmium Zinc Telluride Array as its X-ray detector and a magnetometer on board.

Launch and mission

Cygnus OA-7 OA-7, previously known as Orbital-7, is the eighth flight of the Orbital ATK uncrewed resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its seventh flight to the International Space Station (ISS) under the Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA. The m ...

launched on April 18, 2017 as the eighth flight of the Cygnus Orbital ATK uncrewed orbital spacecraft and its seventh flight to the International Space Station (ISS) under NASA's

Commercial Resupply Services Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) are a series of flights awarded by NASA for the delivery of cargo and supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) on commercially operated spacecraft. The first phase of CRS contracts (CRS-1) were sign ...

. On April 22, 2017, the Cygnus spacecraft docked with the ISS. On May 16, 2017, the CXBN-2 satellite was deployed from the ISS via the

Nanoracks CubeSat Deployer The Nanoracks CubeSat Deployer (NRCSD) is a device to deploy CubeSats into orbit from the International Space Station (ISS). In 2014, two CubeSat deployers were on board the International Space Station (ISS): the Japanese Experiment Module (J ...

along with several other CubeSats. On March 1, 2019, it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere.

References

{{Morehead State University 2017 in spaceflight Satellites deployed from the International Space Station CubeSats Morehead State University