Q-PACE
Names | Cu-PACE |
---|---|
Mission type | Astrophysics |
Operator | University of Central Florida |
COSPAR ID | 2021-002X |
SATCAT no. | 473XX |
Website | sciences |
Mission duration | - (planned: 3 years) [1] |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft | Q-PACE |
Spacecraft type | CubeSat |
Bus | 3U CubeSat |
Manufacturer | University of Central Florida |
Launch mass | 3 kg (6.6 lb) [1] |
Dimensions | 10 × 10 × 37.6 cm |
Power | Solar panels, rechargeable battery |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 17 January 2021, 19:39:00 air launch to orbit) |
Launch site | Mojave Air and Space Port |
Contractor | Virgin Galactic |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric orbit |
Regime | Low Earth orbit |
Altitude | 500 km [1] |
Period | 100.0 minutes |
LunaH-Map → |
CubeSat Particle Aggregation and Collision Experiment (Q-PACE) or Cu-PACE,[4] was an orbital spacecraft mission that would have studied the early stages of proto-planetary accretion by observing particle dynamical aggregation for several years.[5]
Current hypotheses have trouble explaining how particles can grow larger than a few centimeters. This is called the
Overview
Q-PACE was led by Joshua Colwell at the University of Central Florida and was selected NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) which placed it on Educational Launch of Nanosatellites ELaNa XX.[7] The development of the mission was funded through NASA's Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration (SIMPLEx) program.[5][8]
Observations of the collisional evolution and accretion of particles in a
Q-PACE was to explore the fundamental properties of low‐velocity (< 10 cm/s (3.9 in/s)) particle collisions in a microgravity environment in an effort to better understand accretion in the protoplanetary disk.[10] Several precursor tests and flight missions were performed in suborbital flights as well as in the International Space Station.[1][11] The small spacecraft does not need accurate pointing or propulsion, which simplified the design.
On 17 January 2021, Q-PACE launched on a
Objectives
The main objective of Q-PACE was to understand protoplanetary growth from pebbles to boulders by performing long-duration microgravity collision experiments. The specific goals are:[1]
- Quantify the energy damping in multi-particle systems at low collision speeds (< 1 mm/s (0.039 in/s) to 10 cm/s (3.9 in/s))
- Identify the influence of a size distribution on the collision outcome.
- Observe the influence of dust on a multi-particle system.
- Quantify statistically rare events: observe a large number of similar collisions to arrive at a probabilistic description of collisional outcomes.
Method
Q-PACE was a 3U CubeSat with a collision test chamber and several particle reservoirs that contain meteoritic chondrules, dust particles, dust aggregates, and larger spherical particles. Particles will be introduced into the test chamber for a series of separate experimental runs.
The scientists designed a series of experiments involving a broad range of particle size, density, surface properties, and collision velocities to observe collisional outcomes from bouncing to sticking as well as aggregate disruption in tens of thousands of collisions.[9][14] The test chamber will be mechanically agitated to induce collisions that will be recorded by on‐board video for downlink and analysis.[10] Long duration microgravity allows a very large number of collisions to be studied and produce statistically significant data.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f Q-PACE: the CubeSat Particle Aggregation and Collision Experiment Archived 19 January 2019 at the Wayback Machine Josh Colwell, Julie Brisset, Addie Dove, Larry Roe, Jürgen Blum; University of Central Florida, August 2017
- ^ Krebs, Gunter. "LauncherOne (L2)". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 7 August 2019.
- ^ Herrera, Chabeli (26 October 2018). "Virgin Orbit releases the first photos of its rocket-plane hybrid, LauncherOne". Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on 7 August 2019. Retrieved 7 August 2019.
- ^ "NASA Announces Sixth Round of CubeSat Space Mission Candidates" (Press release). SpaceRef. 6 February 2015. Retrieved 17 January 2021.[permanent dead link]
- ^ a b NASA, Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration Program Abstracts of selected proposals, August 8, 2015. Retrieved Nov. 17, 2022.
- ^ "Upcoming ELaNa CubeSat Launches". NASA. 6 May 2020. Retrieved 7 May 2020. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ "NASA's Space Cubes: Small Satellites Provide Big Payoffs". NASA. 8 September 2015. Archived from the original on 17 June 2019. Retrieved 19 April 2020. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Clark, Stephen (5 August 2019). "NASA's first interplanetary smallsats may struggle to stay under cost caps". Spaceflight Now. Archived from the original on 7 August 2019. Retrieved 7 August 2019.
- ^
- ^ a b Q‐PACE: the CubeSat Particle Aggregation and Collision Experiment. Archived 17 December 2019 at the Wayback Machine Josh Colwell, Julie Brisset, Addie Dove, Larry Roe, January 2016
- ^ Planetesimal Formation Archived 17 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine Center for Microgravity Research, University of Central Florida Accessed on 17 April 2019.
- ^ Burghardt, Thomas (17 January 2021). "LauncherOne reaches orbit on second attempt with NASA CubeSats". NASASpaceFlight.com. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
- ^ Foust, Jeff (26 March 2021). "NASA looking for earlier launch of lunar orbiter smallsat mission". SpaceNews. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
Q-PACE launched Jan. 17 as part of the Launch Demo 2 mission by Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne. However, Glaze said that, since launch, controllers have yet to make contact with Q-PACE. "There's dwindling hopes on Q-PACE," she said.
- ^ Krebs, Gunter. "Q-PACE (Cu-PACE)". Gunter's Space Page. Archived from the original on 17 April 2019. Retrieved 7 August 2019.