Gunsmoke-J [LANL]
Official name GUNSMOKE-J 3
Alternative name Gunsmoke-J 3
Cospar ID 2021-023E
Norad ID 47969
Launch date 2021-03-22
Launch site RLLC
Launch vehicle Electron Photon-LEO
Country/Organization USA
Type application Technology
Operator SMDC
RCS size SMALL
Decay date ON ORBIT
Period (min) 94.32
Inclination (deg) 45
Perigee (km) 483
Apogee (km) 488
Eccentricity 0.00514933058702369
Mean motion (revs. per day) 15.2671755725191
Semi-Major axis (km) 6863.635
Raan (deg) 350.6128
Arg of perigee (deg) 319.9254
Shape Box
Mass (kg) 4
Height (m) 0.3
Width (m) 0.1
Depth (m) 0.1
Span (m^2) 0.3
Lifetime 3-5 years
Contractors Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) (satellite)
Propulsion None
Configuration CubeSat (3U)
Power 4 deployable fixed solar arrays, batteries

Gunsmoke-J, formerly named Jacob's Ladder, are experimental 3U CubeSats designed by the US Army SMDC (Space Missile Defense Command) to demonstrate advanced information collection in direct support of the Army combat operations.

The satellites consist of a LANL built Prometheus Block-2 1.5U CubeSat featuring the attached 1.5U Gunsmoke-J experiment module. Power and communications are handled via the Prometheus bus. Gunsmoke-J uses emerging advanced electronics to allow the use of dedicated intelligence assets to provide tactically actionable targeting data to warfighters on a responsive and persistent timeline.

Three flight units have been built.

Launch of one is planned for March 2021 on a shared Electron Photon-LEO launch.

Another one was launched in February 2021 on the Cygnus CRS-15 cargo craft. It will be deployed from Cygnus after departing the ISS.

Satellite COSPAR Date LS Launch Vehicle Remarks
GUNSMOKE-J 3 2021-023E 2021-03-22 RLLC Electron Photon-LEO with BlackSky 7, Centauri 3, Myriota 7, RAAF-M2 A, RAAF-M2 B, Veery Hatchling, Pathstone
GUNSMOKE-J 4 2021-058H 2021-06-30 WRAS LauncherOne with HALO-Net Free Flyer, CNCE 1, CNCE 3, Brik-2, STORK 4, STORK 5
GUNSMOKE-J 2 2021-013D 2021-02-20 WLPIS Antares-230+ with Cygnus CRS-15, Lawkanat 1, ORCA 6, ORCA 7, IT-SPINS, TAU-SAT 1, MYSAT 2, STARS-EC, OPUSAT 2, RSP 01, WARP 01, Maya 2, Guaranisat 1, Tsuru, ThinSat 2A, ..., 2I