T23/0048 - ALIGN Laser CubeSat UKSA NSIP Phase 3

Tender description

The University is completing the build of three 6U CubeSats as part of a technology demonstration mission funded by the UK Space Agency. This mission will see the launch of two 6U CubeSats into a sun-synchronous Low Earth Orbit (expected 450 km altitude) in 2026/7. The third 6U CubeSat is our reference model. The payload being developed for assembly integration and testing within the 6U CubeSat bus is a 2U laser communications terminal. The mission goal will be to demonstrate inter-satellite laser optical communications across a range of link lengths up to 1000 km and at least 1 Gbps data transfer rates between the 6U CubeSats. There will be a requirement for a number of ground-passes for frequent data downlink of the experimental results log files and the mission is anticipated to last for 1 year, including a deorbit final stage.