SpaceX CRS-28

CubeSats planned for this mission:

SC-ODIN

SC-ODIN is a student-led Earth observation mission developed at Concordia University and supported by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) as part of the Canadian CubeSat Project (CCP) initiative. The mission's primary objective is to help improve our understanding of airborne particles in the atmosphere. This is significant for developing climate-aerosol models that are valuable in the context of advancing climate science. The 3U CubeSat uses a high performing CMOS sensor (GomSpace NanoCam) as its primary payload to take color images of Lake Colhué Huapí in Argentina and the coastal regions of Namibia. Using image processing techniques, researchers can extract aerosol optical depth (AOD) measurements to study the role and impact of dust storms on Earth's climate system. This research is co-led with Université de Montréal. A secondary payload consists of RADFET radiation sensors to monitor the total ionizing dose (TID) that the spacecraft is exposed to. The collected data will improve humanity's understanding of the effects of radiation on various components and hardware by characterizing the radiation environment in low Earth orbit (LEO).[14]

Moonlighter This 3U CubeSat was designed by Aerospace Corporation as a cyber test platform and developed in partnership with Space Systems Command (SSC) and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). Its purpose is to advance space cybersecurity by providing the national security space community with the ability to test and learn in real-time in orbit. Once deployed in summer 2023, Moonlighter’s first mission is to host challenges for the Hack-A-Sat 4 Final Event, which is the first Capture the Flag hacking competition with on-orbit challenges taking place at DEF CON 31 in the Aerospace Village.[14]

RADSAT-SK

RADSAT-SK is a joint project between the USST, The University of Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan Polytechnic, and the Canadian Space Agency and has three technical objectives. The first of which is the validation and testing of a new type of radiation dosimeter being developed by faculty at the College of Engineering. This new type of sensor is much smaller and cheaper than current space-grade dosimeters. Along with the dosimeter the project scientists will also be testing the use of high-concentration melanin as a radiation shield in space. This research is also being conducted at the U of S by faculty at the college of pharmacology. Lastly, RADSAT-SK will have an earth-imaging camera onboard in the hope that the science team can capture some images of Saskatchewan from space that they can share with the province.[15]

Ukpik-1

ESSENCE

The Educational Space Science and ENgineering CubeSat Experiment Mission (Nanoracks-ESSENCE) includes scientific and technical research activities. The scientific tasks focus on Earth observation of arctic ice, permafrost thaw and forest coverage in Northern Canada, and the measurement of solar energetic protons. The payloads are a fisheye camera and a proton detector. They are designed to help fight climate change by improving our understanding of solar proton events to better design and protect spacecraft for a successful mission. The technical task is to examine the effectiveness and robustness of novel attitude navigation and control theory and algorithms using reaction wheels and magnetorquers. Specifically, the task is to demonstrate the attitude control of spacecraft using two reaction wheels with our algorithms by assuming the third one has failed. In case of attitude actuator failure in a fully actuated spacecraft, such control measures provide a means to recover the mission, although with possible degraded performance.