Space and Missile Systems Center payloads arrive at International Space Station on NASA commercial resupply mission

The Cygnus NG-12 cargo spacecraft, S.S. Alan Bean, launches from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s Pad 0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia aboard an upgraded Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems Antares 230+ rocket at 9:59 a.m. EDT Saturday, Nov. 2, 2019. On board the two-day flight to the International Space Station are the Aerospace Rogue Alpha/Beta Cubesats, which have officially achieved their priority mission of developing a small low Earth orbit constellation in just 18 months for the Space and Missile Systems Center Development Corps at Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo, California. The cubesats will collect data on cloud backgrounds to inform future low Earth orbit missions. The Air Force will also utilize this program’s data to investigate potential uses of the capability. (Image credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA)

Aerospace Rogue Alpha/Beta CubeSats successfully launched to the International Space Station

Published Nov. 2, 2019
By SMC Public Affairs
Space and Missile Systems Center

WALLOPS ISLAND, Va. --

The U.S. Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center and its mission partners successfully launched the Aerospace Rogue Alpha/Beta Cube Satellites, Nov. 2.

Lift-off occurred at 9:59 a.m. EDT from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The Cygnus capsule will dock with the International Space Station and the satellites will remain there until deployment in early 2020.

The Aerospace CubeSats have officially achieved their priority mission of developing a small low Earth orbit (LEO) constellation in just 18 months. The satellites will now collect data on cloud backgrounds to inform future LEO missions. The Air Force will also utilize this program’s data to investigate potential uses of the capability.

“The successful launch of the Aerospace CubeSats marks a huge achievement for SMC and its partners,” said Col. Dennis Bythewood, Program Executive Officer for Space Development. “This mission has set a precedent for speed and will also provide us with much needed data for future space development programs.”

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