qbee50-LTU-OC [LTU]
Official name QBEE50-LTU-OC
Alternative name qbee50-LTU-OC
Cospar ID 1998-067LR
Norad ID 42708
Launch date 1998-11-20
Launch site TTMTR
Launch vehicle Atlas-5(401)
Country/Organization Sweden
Type application Technology, thermospheric research
Operator Luleå Tekniska Universitet
RCS size SMALL
Decay date 2019-02-26
Shape Box
Mass (kg) 2
Height (m) 0.2
Width (m) 0.1
Depth (m) 0.2
Span (m^2) 0.2
Lifetime 3 months
Contractors Luleå Tekniska Universitet, Open Cosmos
Equipment FIPEX
Propulsion None
Configuration CubeSat (2U)
Power Solar cells, batteries

qbee50-LTU-OC is a Swedish 2U-CubeSat designed and produced by Open Cosmos Ltd for QB50 in collaboration with Luleå Tekniska Universitet (LTU) that provides integration, test and ground station facilities and support. The mission participates in the QB50 project.

It carries the FIPEX (Flux-Φ-Probe Experiment) of TU Dresden as the primary payload for the QB50 project, which is able to distinguish and measure the time-resolved behaviour of atomic and molecular oxygen as a key parameter of the lower thermosphere.

The QB50 project, which demonstrates the possibility of launching a network of 50 CubeSats built by Universities Teams all over the world to perform first-class science in the largely unexplored lower thermosphere.

The satellite was launched with the bulk of the QB50 constellation to the ISS in 2017, from where the satellite was deployed on 17 May 2017.

Satellite COSPAR Date LS Launch Vehicle Remarks
QBEE50-LTU-OC 1998-067LR 1998-11-20 TTMTR Atlas-5(401) with Cygnus CRS-7, ALTAIR 1, SUSat, UNSW-EC0, i-INSPIRE 2, ZA-AeroSat, nSIGHT 1, Ex-Alta 1, LilacSat 1, NJUST 1, Aoxiang 1, SOMP 2, QBITO, Aalto 2, X-CubeSat, SpaceCube, DUTHSat, UPSat, Hoopoe, LINK, SNUSAT 1, SNUSAT 1b, BeEagleSat, HAVELSAT, Phoenix, PolyITAN-2-SAU, QBUS 1, QBUS 2, QBUS 4, IceCube, CSUNSat 1, CXBN 2, KySat 3, SHARC, Lemur-2 30, ..., 33