Rockwell’s Picosatellites Perform Well in Test

Technology developed at the Rockwell Science Center in Thousand Oaks was successfully demonstrated earlier this month during the space flight of the two smallest satellites ever released into orbit.

The picosatellites weigh less than a half-pound each and measure 4-by-3-by-1 inches.

The science center’s micro-relays and networking technologies will dramatically reduce the size, power and cost of future satellites used for such applications as telecommunications and weather imaging, officials said.

The satellites were placed into space from the Stanford University Orbiting Picosat Automated Launcher, a satellite platform that flew aboard a rocket launched Jan. 26 from Vandenberg Air Force Base.

“We are very pleased to see the successful application in space of technologies that also have many uses for government and industry here on Earth,” said Derek Cheung, Rockwell’s vice president for research and director of the Science Center.

As part of a series of experiments, the picosatellites communicated to one another and with a ground station to exchange information obtained from a series of simple on-board circuits. The satellite networking used low-cost digital cordless telephone technology.