QB50

QB50 is a science project that focuses on the use of originally 50, later 36 CubeSats . The tender for the QB50 CubeSat was published on February 15, 2012.

Originally, 50 Cubesats were planned to be launched together on a single launcher in 2016. The number has since decreased to 36. 28 of them were brought to the ISS on April 18, 2017 in a Cygnus space transporter and are to be released from there later. Another 8 Cube-Sats were brought into space on June 23, 2017 with an Indian PSLV rocket.

The project is led by the Von Karman Institute for Fluid Mechanics in Belgium. This satellite program was funded by the European Commission's FP7 research framework program .

aims

The program aims to:

• Access to space
• scientific investigations
• Technology demonstration
• education

Access to space

The first goal of the QB50 project is to enable continuous and affordable access to space for small space exploration missions and for exploring planets. The project aims to show that authoritative research, both scientific and technological, can be achieved with small and compact programs. The latter will therefore increase the level of technology maturity for space applications. By demonstrating the use of the Zyklon 4 launcher , a long-term launch service for special community launches is to be made available. A launcher that will be available for at least the next ten years until a new generation of special launchers for the launch of nano-satellites is available. The QB50 project faces the challenge of coordinating more than 50 CubeSats and 15 different partners and is therefore an impetus for the harmonization and standardization of the CubeSat platform. Thanks to the numerous participants in the QB50 community, more cost-effective platform solutions can be developed.

Scientific investigations

Another goal of the QB50 project is to conduct atmospheric research in the lower thermosphere , which is the least explored layer of the atmosphere. In particular, the area between 200 and 380 km altitude should be explored. Three different measuring devices should be used:

• Ion and neutron spectrometer ( Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS) )
• Oxygen sensor (FIPEX - Flux-Φ-Probe Experiment)
• Multi-Needle Langmuir Probe (m-NLP)

Most of the QB50 CubeSats carry one of these measuring devices and should be active for a few months.

Technology demonstration in orbit

Some CubeSats that do not carry any of the aforementioned scientific gauges carry their own payloads to serve as a platform for demonstrating space technology. The following CubeSats serve this goal:

• QARMAN
• DelFFi-1
• DelFFi-2
• InflateSail

education

QB50 has invited universities around the world to take part in the project and to send a satellite into space. Numerous suggestions were accepted and CubeSats were selected. As a result, numerous QB50 CubeSats were designed and built by students and young engineers. They were looked after by experienced employees at their universities. These students not only learn space technology in theory, but can also leave their universities with practical experience.

List of QB50 satellites

The QB50P1 and QB50P2 were launched in 2014 as a preliminary mission.

The satellites were split into two launches. The first series was launched on April 18, 2017 with an Atlas V that brought the Cygnus OA-7 spacecraft to the ISS . The second series was launched on June 23, 2017 with an Indian PSLV rocket.

QB50 ID	designation	Organization / operator	country	Launcher
AT03	Pegasus	University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt	Austria	PSLV
AU01	SUSat	University of Adelaide	Australia	Atlas V
AU02	UNSW-ECO	University of New South Wales	Australia	Atlas V
AU03	I-INSPIRE II	University of Sydney	Australia	Atlas V
AZ01	ZA-AeroSat	Stellenbosch University	South Africa	Atlas V
AZ02	nSight-1	SCS Space	South Africa	Atlas V
CA03	ExAlta-1	University of Alberta	Canada	Atlas V
CN02	LilacSat-1	Harbin Institute of Technology	China	Atlas V
CN03	NJUST-1	Nanjing University of Science and Technology	China	Atlas V
CN04	Aoxiang-1	Northwestern Polytechnic University	China	Atlas V
CN06	NUDTSat	National University of Defense Technology	China	PSLV
CZ02	VZLU-Sat	VZLU (German for Aeronautical Research and Testing Institute)	Czech Republic	PSLV
DE02	SOMP-2	Technical University Dresden	Germany	Atlas V
DE04	DragSail-CubeSat	FH Aachen	Germany	PSLV
ES01	QBITO	Polytechnic University of Madrid	Spain	Atlas V
FI01	Aalto	Aalto University	Finland	Atlas V
FR01	X-Cube-Sat	École polytechnique	France	Atlas V
FR05	SpaceCube	Mines ParisTech	France	Atlas V
GB03	UCLSat	MSSL, University College London	United Kingdom	PSLV
GB06	InflateSat	University of Surrey	United Kingdom	PSLV
GR01	DUTH	Democritus University of Thrace / Space Research Lab	Greece	Atlas V
GR02	UPSat	University of Patras	Greece	Atlas V
IL01	Hoopoe	The Space Laboratory of the Herzliya Science Center	Israel	Atlas V
IT02	URSA MAIOR	Sapienza University	Italy	PSLV
KR01	LINK	Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology	South Korea	Atlas V
KR02	SNUSAT-1	Seoul National University	South Korea	Atlas V
KR03	SNUSAT-1b	Seoul National University	South Korea	Atlas V
LT01	LituanicaSAT-2	Vilnius University	Lithuania	Atlas V
SE01	qbee	Open Cosmos , Luleå University of Technology	Sweden	Atlas V
TR01	BeEagleSat	Istanbul Technical University / Air Force Academy	Turkey	Atlas V
TR02	HAVELSAT	HAVELSAN	Turkey	Atlas V
TW01	PHOENIX	Cheng Kung National University	Taiwan	Atlas V
UA01	KPI-SAU-1	National Technical University of Ukraine "KPI"	Ukraine	Atlas V
US01	Challenger	University of Colorado Boulder	United States	Atlas V
US02	Atlantis	University of Michigan	United States	Atlas V
US04	Columbia	Universidad del Turabo	United States	Atlas V

Web links

• Official QB50 website

Individual evidence

1. ^ QB-50: The Launch Scenario. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on February 3, 2017 ; accessed on February 3, 2017 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ ^{a b} William Graham: PSLV rocket launches Cartosat 2E and 30 small sats. nasaspaceflight.com, June 22, 2017, accessed June 23, 2017 (US local time published). 
3. ^ Mission Objectives. (No longer available online.) QB50, archived from the original on April 4, 2015 ; accessed on January 15, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ DelFFi mission. Delfi Space, accessed January 15, 2015 . 
5. ^ Space vehicle control. University of Surrey, accessed January 15, 2015 . 
6. ^ QB-50: CubeSats Participating in the QB50 Project. (No longer available online.) January 31, 2017, archived from the original on February 3, 2017 ; accessed on February 3, 2017 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.