FalconSat 7 [USAF]
Official name FALCONSAT-7
Alternative name FalconSat-7
Cospar ID 2019-036J
Norad ID 44347
Launch date 2019-06-25
Launch site AFETR
Launch vehicle Falcon-Heavy (Block 5)
Country/Organization USA
Type application Experimental
Operator U.S. Air Force Academy
RCS size SMALL
Decay date 2021-07-02
Shape Box + 1 Pan + 1 Truss
Mass (kg) 5
Height (m) 0.3
Width (m) 0.1
Depth (m) 0.1
Span (m^2) 1
Contractors U.S. Air Force Academy, Boeing (bus)
Propulsion None
Configuration CubeSat (3U)
Power Deployable solar arrays, batteries

FalconSAT-7, is a nanosatellite developed by the U.S. Air Force Academy to test out a solar telescope with the Peregrine photon-sieve optic - the world's first spaceborne membrane telescope.

The primary optic is a 0.2 m diameter photon sieve ? a diffractive element, consisting of billions of tiny holes in an otherwise opaque polymer sheet. The membrane, its support structure, secondary optics, two imaging cameras and associated control/recording electronics are all packaged within half the CubeSat volume (1.5U). Once in space, the supporting pantograph structure is deployed to pulling the membrane flat under tension. The telescope will then be steered towards the Sun to gather images at H-alpha for transmission to the ground.

The program goals are:

  • Deploy a rigid structure supporting a 0.2 m membrane photon sieve
  • Image the Sun at the H-alpha wavelength of 656.3n

The satellite is built on a NRO supplied Colony II 3U-CubeSat built by Boeing.

Satellite COSPAR Date LS Launch Vehicle Remarks
FALCONSAT-7 2019-036J 2019-06-25 AFETR Falcon-Heavy (Block 5) with DSX , FORMOSAT 7A, 7B, 7C, 7D, 7E, 7F, GPIM, OTB 1, NPSat 1, Oculus-ASR, Prox 1, LightSail 2, ARMADILLO, E-TBEx A, E-TBEx B, PSat 2, BRICSat 2, Prometheus 2.6, Prometheus Mass Model, TEPCE 1, 2, CP 9 (LEO), StangSat