page_title: CubeSat
section_title: 2018 InSight mission: MarCO CubeSats
hierarchical_section_title: CubeSat / Notable past missions / 2018 InSight mission: MarCO CubeSats
caption_attribution_description: English: PIA19388: Interplanetary CubeSat for Technology Demonstration at Mars (Artist's Concept) http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19388 NASA's two MarCO CubeSats will be flying past Mars in September 2016 just as NASA's next Mars lander, InSight, is descending through the Martian atmosphere and landing on the surface. MarCO, for Mars Cube One, will provide an experimental communications relay to inform Earth quickly about the landing. This illustration depicts a moment during the lander's descent when it is transmitting data in the UHF radio band, and the twin MarCO craft are receiving those transmissions while simultaneously relaying the data to Earth in a different radio band. Each of the MarCO twins carries two solar panels for power, and both UHF-band and X-band radio antennas. As a technology demonstration, MarCO could lead to other "bring-your-own-relay" mission designs and also to use of miniature spacecraft for a wide diversity of interplanetary missions. MarCO is the first interplanetary use of CubeSat technologies for small spacecraft. CubeSats are a class of spacecraft based on a standardized small size and modular use of off-the-shelf technologies to streamline development. Many have been made by university students, and dozens have been launched into Earth orbit using extra payload mass available on launches of larger spacecraft. The two briefcase-size MarCO CubeSats will ride along with InSight on an Atlas V launch vehicle lifting off in March 2016 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. MarCO is a technology demonstration aspect of the InSight mission and not needed for that mission's success. InSight, an acronym for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, will investigate the deep interior of Mars to advance understanding of how rocky planets, including Earth, formed and evolved. After launch, the MarCO twins and InSight will be navigated separately to Mars. The MarCO and InSight projects are managed for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, by JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena.
context_page_description: A CubeSat is a type of miniaturized satellite for space research that is made up of multiples of 10 cm × 10 cm × 10 cm cubic units. CubeSats have a mass of no more than 1.33 kilograms per unit, and often use commercial off-the-shelf components for their electronics and structure. CubeSats are commonly put in orbit by deployers on the International Space Station, or launched as secondary payloads on a launch vehicle. More than 1200 CubeSats have been launched as of January 2020. More than 1100 have been successfully deployed in orbit and more than 80 have been destroyed in launch failures.
  In 1999, California Polytechnic State University and Stanford University developed the CubeSat specifications to promote and develop the skills necessary for the design, manufacture, and testing of small satellites intended for low Earth orbit that perform a number of scientific research functions and explore new space technologies. Academia accounted for the majority of CubeSat launches until 2013, when more than half of launches were for non-academic purposes, and by 2014 most newly deployed CubeSats were for commercial or amateur projects.
context_section_description: The May 2018 launch of the InSight stationary Mars lander included two CubeSats to flyby Mars to provide additional relay communications from InSight to Earth during entry and landing. This is the first flight of CubeSats in deep space. The mission CubeSat technology is called Mars Cube One (MarCO), each one is a six-unit CubeSat, 14.4 inches (36.6 centimeters) by 9.5 inches (24.3 centimeters) by 4.6 inches (11.8 centimeters). MarCo is an experiment, but not necessary for the InSight mission, to add relay communications to space missions in important time durations, in this case from the time of InSight atmospheric entry to its landing.
  MarCO launched in May 2018 with the InSight lander, separated after launch and then traveled in their own trajectories to Mars. After separation, both MarCO spacecraft deployed two radio antennas and two solar panels. The high-gain, X band antenna is a flat panel to direct radio waves. MarCO navigated to Mars independently from the InSight lander, making their own course adjustments on the flight.
  During InSight's entry, descent and landing (EDL) in November 2018, the lander transmitted telemetry in the UHF radio band to NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) flying overhead. MRO forwarded EDL information to Earth using a radio frequency in the X band, but cannot simultaneously receive information in one band if transmitting on another. Confirmation of a successful landing could be received on Earth several hours after, so MarCO was a technology demonstration of real-time telemetry during the landing.
caption: An artist's rendering of MarCO A and B during the descent of InSight
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