Landmapper-BC [Aquila Space]
Official name CORVUS BC1
Alternative name Landmapper-BC1
Cospar ID 2017-042Y
Norad ID 42847
Launch date 2017-07-14
Launch site TTMTR
Launch vehicle Soyuz-2-1a Fregat
Country/Organization USA
Type application Earth observation
Operator Astro Digital (ex Aquila Space)
RCS size MEDIUM
Decay date ON ORBIT
Period (min) 95.8
Inclination (deg) 97.37
Perigee (km) 549
Apogee (km) 566
Eccentricity 0.0152466367713004
Mean motion (revs. per day) 15.0313152400835
Semi-Major axis (km) 6935.635
Raan (deg) 319.734
Arg of perigee (deg) 337.1307
Shape Box + 2 Pan
Mass (kg) 10
Height (m) 0.3
Width (m) 0.2
Depth (m) 0.2
Span (m^2) 0.4
Lifetime 5 years
Contractors Astro Digital (ex Aquila Space)
Equipment 22 m 3-band multi-spectral imager
Propulsion None
Configuration CubeSat (6U)
Power Solar cells, batteries

Astro Digital, formely known as Aquila Space, (formed from the core team of the former Dauria Space daughter Canopus Systems) developed the Landmapper-BC (formerly known as Corvus-BC) earth observation CubeSat (6U).

The Landmapper-BC satellites are based on the Perseus-O satellites developed at Canopus Systems, before Dauria and Canopus seperated.

The satellites feature a broad coverage multispectral (Red, Green, NIR) imaging system with a resolution of 22 meters per pixel.

Eventually, Aquila Space planed to send eight to ten satellites into the Landmapper-BC constellation to capture daily, multispectral imagery of the world?s arable land.

  • The first two satellites, Landmapper-BC 1 and 2, were launched in July 2017 on a Soyuz-2-1a Fregat rocket, but both failed shortly after.
  • The next satellite, Landmapper-BC 3, was launched on 28 November 2017 as a copassenger on a Soyuz-2-1b Fregat rocket, but was lost due to an upper stage problem.
  • Landmapper-BC 3 v2 was successfully launched by an Indian PSLV-XL rocket in January 2018.
  • Landmapper-BC 4 was launched on Spaceflight Industry's SSO-A multi-satellite launch on a Falcon-9 v1.2 (Block 5) rocket.

    • When Astro Digital shelved the plans for their own earth observation constellation, the partially completed Landmapper-BC 5 was modified and used as the base for the Mandrake 1 satellite.

Satellite COSPAR Date LS Launch Vehicle Remarks
CORVUS BC2 2017-042X 2017-07-14 TTMTR Soyuz-2-1a Fregat with Kanopus-V-IK 1, Flying Laptop, WNISAT 1R, NORSAT 1, NORSAT 2, TechnoSat, CICERO 1, 2, 3, Corvus-BC 1, MKA-N 1, 2, Flock-2k 1, ..., 48, Lemur-2 42, ..., 49, NanoACE, Mayak, Iskra-MAI-85, UTE-UESOR
CORVUS BC1 2017-042Y 2017-07-14 TTMTR Soyuz-2-1a Fregat with Kanopus-V-IK 1, Flying Laptop, WNISAT 1R, NORSAT 1, NORSAT 2, TechnoSat, CICERO 1, 2, 3, Corvus-BC 2, MKA-N 1, 2, Flock-2k 1, ..., 48, Lemur-2 42, ..., 49, NanoACE, Mayak, Iskra-MAI-85, UTE-UESOR
CORVUS BC3 2018-004H 2018-01-12 SRI PSLV-XL with Cartosat 2F, Microsat-TD, LEO Vantage 1, Carbonite 2, ICEYE X1, INS 1C, Arkyd 6A, CICERO 7, Lemur-2 68, ..., 71, Flock-3p' 1, ..., 4, MicroMAS 2a, PicSat, CANYVAL-X 1, 2, CNUSail 1, KAUSAT 5, SIGMA, DemoSat 2, GeoStare, Fox 1D, STEP Cube Lab, SpaceBEE 1, ..., 4
CORVUS BC4 2018-099K 2018-12-03 AFWTR Falcon-9 v1.2 (Block 5) with SkySat 14, 15, Eu:CROPIS, STPSat 5, FalconSat 6, NEXTSat 1, KazSTSAT, eXCITe, SeeMe, ICEYE X2, BlackSky 2, ESEO, Hawk A, B, C, Capella 1, AISTECHSAT 2, CSIM-FD, Hiber 2, ITASAT 1, ORS 7A, 7B, Al-Farabi 2, Astrocast 0.1, Audacy 0, BRIO, Centauri 1, Eaglet 1, Enoch, Flock-3s 1, 2, 3, K2SAT, KazSciSat 1, MinXSS 2, Orbital Reflector, RAAF M1, SeaHawk 1, SNUSAT 2, THEA, VESTA, PW-Sat 2, SNUGLITE, VisionCube, RANGE A, B, Elysium-Star 2, ExseedSat 1, Fox 1C, Irvine 02, JY1-Sat, KNACKSAT, MOVE 2, SpaceBEE 5, 6, 7, Suomi-100, WeissSat 1, Sirion Pathfinder 2, OrbWeaver 1, 2, SPAWAR-CAL O, OR, R