EQUULEUS
University of Tokyo
6U deep-space CubeSat launched on NASA's Artemis I to demonstrate low-thrust trajectory control in the Earth-Moon system.
Technical specifications
- Form factor
- 6U CubeSat
- Propulsion
- Low-thrust water-based propulsion (AQUARIUS thruster)
- Payload
- PHOENIX plasmasphere imaging camera; DELPHINUS micrometeoroid impact camera
- Launch
- NASA Artemis I / Space Launch System, 16 November 2022
- Mission
- Trajectory control demonstration to an Earth-Moon libration point orbit
About
EQUULEUS (EQUilibriUm Lunar-Earth point 6U Spacecraft) is a 6U CubeSat jointly developed by the University of Tokyo’s Intelligent Space Systems Laboratory and JAXA. It launched on November 16, 2022 as a secondary payload aboard NASA’s Artemis I Space Launch System (SLS) mission, becoming one of the first deep-space CubeSats ever flown. EQUULEUS was designed to demonstrate precise trajectory control techniques using low-thrust water-based propulsion to reach a libration (equilibrium) point orbit in the Earth-Moon system, and to observe Earth’s plasmasphere with its onboard PHOENIX camera, while also imaging micrometeoroid impacts via the DELPHINUS instrument. The mission validated deep-space navigation, trajectory-correction, and low-cost interplanetary CubeSat technologies that ISSL has continued to build on for subsequent deep-space smallsat missions.
Documentation
No public datasheet yet — request the datasheet / ICD from the supplier.
