CanX-5

CanX-5 (NLS 7.2)

Canada

Spacecraft nº:

Canadian spacecraft nº: 49

Launched together with: SPOT 7 - CanX 4 - AISat 1 - VELOX 1-NSAT - VELOX 1-PSAT

Prime manufacturer	UTIAS (University of Toronto, Institute for Aerospace Studies)
Platform	Generic Nanosatellite Bus (GNB)
Operator	UTIAS
Mass at launch	kg
Dry Mass	kg
Basic shape
Dimension (m)
Equipment
Solar array
Stabilization
Propulsion
DC power
Design lifetime

Photo of the fully-integrated PSLV upper stage, with SPOT-7, CanX-4, CanX-5, and AISat visible (image credit: UTIAS/SFL, ISRO)

CanX-4 and CanX-5 (Canadian Advanced Nanospace eXperiments) are a pair of identical nanosatellites. Their primary mission is the demonstration of on-orbit formation flying. In this context, formation flying is defined as two or more satellites controlling their position and orientation with respect to one another to achieve a predefined configuration necessary for coordinated operations.
CanX-4 and CanX-5 will use the technology proven aboard CanX-2 to achieve and maintain several controlled formations in orbit. Formation will be controlled with the second generation Nanosatellite Propulsion System (NANOPS) being developed at UTIAS/SFL. During the mission, the team will evaluate the propellant usage in autonomous formation control strategies.
To enable autonomous control, CanX-4/-5 will employ innovative carrier-phase differential GPS techniques to obtain relative position measurements accurate to less than 10 cm. This research is done in partnership with Prof. Elizabeth Cannon and Prof. Susan Skone at the University of Calgary. CanX-4 and CanX-5 will coordinate their operations using an SFL-developed inter-satellite communication link. Control strategies for formation maintenance will be provided by Prof. Christopher Damaren at UTIAS.

India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle put France's SPOT 7 imaging satellite in orbit on Jun 30, 2014.
CanX-4 and CanX-5 will perform a formation flying experiment.

Ref.: #7(JR699), #14, #110, #207, #228, #242 - update: 22.01.15