DRAGONSat (Dual RF Astrodynamic GPS Orbital Navigator Satellite) was a 2000s pair of nanosatellites that were to demonstrate autonomous rendezvous and docking (ARD) in low

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

orbit (LEO) for

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

. It was intended to gather flight data with a

global positioning system The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based hyperbolic navigation system owned by the United States Space Force and operated by Mission Delta 31. It is one of the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) that provide ge ...

(GPS) receiver strictly designed for space applications to gather flight data in the space environment. ARD is the capability of two independent spacecraft to rendezvous in orbit and dock without crew intervention. The mission failed when the DRAGONSats failed to separate from their carrier spacecraft. One DRAGONSat was built by the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

and the other one was built by Texas A and M University, the

Space Shuttle Payload Launcher Space is a Three-dimensional space, three-dimensional continuum containing position (geometry), positions and direction (geometry), directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physici ...

(SSPL), These satellite projects were planned to rendezvous and dock with each other in space without the benefit of human intervention. DRAGONSat was planned to be an eight-year program with a launch of the satellites approximately every two years. The first three missions were to test individual components and subsystems while the final mission was to culminate with the successful docking of two satellites. Each mission was planned to build on the previous mission culminating in a fully autonomous rendezvous and docking mission. Both universities were required to use GPS receivers designed by NASA in order to determine its functionality. One of the objectives was to demonstrate precision real-time

navigation Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the motion, movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navig ...

capability as well as precision relative navigation between the two satellites.

Planned operations

DRAGONSat is a pair of two 5 inches x 5 inches x 5 inches satellites which are launched from the Shuttle orbiter payload bay. Both satellites are built of aluminum with a mass of approximately 7.5 kg. Each picosatellite is covered with photo-voltaic cells and will enable a longer active life in orbit. Each satellite also has a

dipole antenna In radio and telecommunications a dipole antenna or doublet is one of the two simplest and most widely used antenna types, types of antenna; the other is the monopole antenna, monopole. The dipole is any one of a class of antennas producin ...

and two antennas for the GPS receiver. The satellites are ejected from the SSPL which is located on the payload bay sidewall. They were intended to be ejected as a pair and once at a safe distance from the Space Shuttle, they would separate and begin the experiment. Data collection will be downlinked to

ground station A ground station, Earth station, or Earth terminal is a terrestrial radio station designed for extraplanetary telecommunication with spacecraft (constituting part of the ground segment of the spacecraft system), or reception of radio waves fr ...

s for as long as the satellites are able to transmit. Both DRAGONSat were launched together in the Space Shuttle Payload Launcher (SSPL) from the side walls of the orbiter payload bay. The initial pair was launched on July 30, 2009 aboard

STS-127 STS-127 (Assembly of the International Space Station, ISS assembly flight 2J/A) was a NASA Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS). It was the twenty-third flight of . The primary purpose of the STS-127 mission was to deliv ...

, and on Flight Day 16, the first pair of DRAGONSats were inserted into orbit. Space Shuttle ''Endeavour'' placed them in orbit at 8:35 am EDT. for their planned multiyear mission to study automatic dockings in space. Deployment occurred over central

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

at an altitude of 218 miles. Subsequent DRAGONsat flights never occurred after the program was cancelled.

Specifications

:''Section source'WiSP Information Update: DRAGONSat Satellite Specifications
/ref> ;DRAGONSat-1 "BEVO-1" * Country: USA * Application: Spacecraft docking technology * Operator:

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

* Contractors: University of Texas at Austin * Equipment: DRAGON GPS Receiver * Configuration: 5" cube * Propulsion: none * Lifetime: 3.5 kg * Mass: 5 kg ;DRAGONSat-2 "AggieSat-2" * Country: USA * Application: Spacecraft docking technology * Operator:

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

* Contractors: Texas A&M University * Equipment: DRAGON GPS Receiver * Configuration: 5" cube * Propulsion: None * Lifetime: 3.5 kg * Mass: 3.5 kg

References

{{Reflist

External links

Gunters Space Page: AggieSat 2 (DRAGONSat 2)
NASA satellites Spacecraft launched in 2009 Spacecraft which reentered in 2010 Nanosatellites Secondary payloads

Planned operations

Specifications

See also

References

External links