The two MarCO “cubesat” spacecraft were launched alongside NASA’s InSight in May 2018, operating primarily as a technology demonstrator for small satellites in deep space, with a nominal (but experimental) mission to provide relay support for the primary spacecraft during entry, descent, and landing at Mars. Due to their small size and experimental nature, extensive use of telemetry beyond that commonly used by deep space missions was necessary to complete adequate orbit determination. In particular, telemetry was valuable in two areas: use of wheel speeds during thruster calibrations to improve knowledge of individual thruster force levels, and the use of propellant temperature and pressure data to correctly model small thrusting events on board the vehicle.


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    Title :

    Using telemetry to navigate the MarCO cubesats to Mars


    Contributors:

    Publication date :

    2019-02-24


    Type of media :

    Preprint


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English



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