6U CubeSat
Blue Canyon Technologies
The Blue Canyon Technologies 6U CubeSat, part of the XB line, is a reliable, high-performing, and flight-proven satellite platform offering a turnkey solution for various space missions.
Technical specifications
- Class
- 6U
- Available payload volume
- 4U (typical)
- Pointing accuracy
- ±0.002° (1-sigma), 3 axes, 2 Trackers
- Orbit altitude / orbit lifetime
- LEO (> 5 years), GEO (> 2 years), Deep Space (> 2 years)
- Real-world missions
- Proven Heritage
- Units launched
- 46
- Units in-work
- 07
- Units delivered
- 10
About
The Blue Canyon Technologies 6U CubeSat, from their XB line, is a highly accurate, turnkey solution for space missions, boasting over 50 CubeSats launched. It is designed for reliability and high performance. The platform typically offers 4U of available payload volume and achieves a pointing accuracy of ±0.002° (1-sigma) across 3 axes with 2 trackers. It is suitable for various orbital altitudes and lifetimes, including LEO (> 5 years), GEO (> 2 years), and Deep Space (> 2 years). The 6U CubeSat has a proven heritage with 46 units launched, 10 units delivered, and 7 units currently in-work. This agile CubeSat technology is enabling missions like NASA Ames’ Starling, demonstrating autonomous cooperation for future deep space applications, and the SPARCS mission, which will use a 6U CubeSat for ultraviolet astrophysics research, offering a more affordable alternative to larger, more expensive spacecraft like Hubble due to its pointing accuracy and low-jitter reaction wheels. Flight heritage includes missions such as the Agile Microsatellite (AMS) for attitude control in very low Earth orbit, ARCSTONE for lunar spectral reflectance measurements, and CIRCE for measuring the ionosphere and radiation environment in tandem formation.
Documentation
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