NASAs Ames Research Center | One Water-Powered NASA Spacecraft Commands Another in Orbit @NASAAmes | Uploaded August 2019 | Updated October 2024, 2 minutes ago.
This unnarrated animation depicts NASA’s first coordinated maneuver between two CubeSats in low-Earth orbit as part of NASA’s Optical Communications and Sensor Demonstration mission.
The twin OCSD spacecraft, each approximately the size of a tissue box, were orbiting Earth about 5.5 miles apart when they established a radio frequency communications crosslink to “talk” with each other. One spacecraft issued a command to the second to activate its thruster and close the gap between the two. The fuel tanks on both spacecraft are filled with water. During this propulsive maneuver, the water was converted to steam by the thrusters to propel the spacecraft.
Members of the news media interested in covering this topic should get in touch with the technology media contact at NASA’s Ames Research Center, listed here: nasa.gov/ames/media
Video credit: NASA/Ames Research Center
This video may be downloaded at: images.nasa.gov/details-ARC-20190801-AAV3211-OCSD-OrbitalManeuver-NASAWeb.html
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This unnarrated animation depicts NASA’s first coordinated maneuver between two CubeSats in low-Earth orbit as part of NASA’s Optical Communications and Sensor Demonstration mission.
The twin OCSD spacecraft, each approximately the size of a tissue box, were orbiting Earth about 5.5 miles apart when they established a radio frequency communications crosslink to “talk” with each other. One spacecraft issued a command to the second to activate its thruster and close the gap between the two. The fuel tanks on both spacecraft are filled with water. During this propulsive maneuver, the water was converted to steam by the thrusters to propel the spacecraft.
Members of the news media interested in covering this topic should get in touch with the technology media contact at NASA’s Ames Research Center, listed here: nasa.gov/ames/media
Video credit: NASA/Ames Research Center
This video may be downloaded at: images.nasa.gov/details-ARC-20190801-AAV3211-OCSD-OrbitalManeuver-NASAWeb.html
Follow us on social media to hear about the latest developments in space, science, technology and aeronautics.
Facebook facebook.com/nasaames
Twitter twitter.com/nasaames
Instagram instagram.com/nasaames
