DANDE

DANDE (Drag and Atmospheric Neutral Density Explorer)

DANDE ModelMission

DANDE’s mission statement is to explore the spatial and temporal variability of the neutral thermosphere at altitudes between 200 and 350 km (revised to 325-500 km due to being assigned to a new orbit since the beginning of the project), and investigate how wind and density variability translate to drag forces on satellites. The density of the atmosphere varies greatly due to space weather and other unknown processes. The International Space Station once dropped in height by tens of kilometers in a span of a few days – and by understanding drag forces and composition of the atmosphere we can provide better data about this phenomenon.

DANDE separation system:

The DANDE spacecraft is required to interface to the launch vehicle via the ESPA ring containing a circular 24 bolt pattern. At the desired time following launch, the ESPA ring will eject (via an independent ESPA separation system) the DANDE system from the launch vehicle allowing the initiation of the mission. To connect the spherical DANDE spacecraft to the ESPA ring, an interface bracket was created.

Upon ESPA separation the DANDE system (containing both the interface bracket and sphere) are ejected. At a later time, the spacecraft will be commanded to independently separate from the interface bracket enabling the start of the science portion of the mission.

DANDE Separation system

DANDE Spacecraft Mission overview.

Orbital parameters

Name                 DANDE
NORAD                39267
COSPAR designation   2013-055-C
Inclination (degree) 80.992
RAAN                 301.544
Eccentricity         0.0796289
ARGP                 120.149
Orbit per day        13.96736584
Period               1h 43m 05s (103.9 min)
Semi-major axis      7 283 km
Perigee x apogee     325 x 1 485 km
Drag factor          0.000242970 1/ER
Mean Anomaly         248.095

Downlink

DANDE LogoBeacon

436.75 MHz FM, 9k6 FSK

Transmit Interval: every 15 seconds, RF Power Output: 0.75 W, Antenna Polarization: linear

Callsign

dandecosgc

TLE

DANDE
1 39267U 13055C   13286.46970741  .00007146  00000-0  24297-3 0    96
2 39267  80.9916 301.5444 0796289 120.1487 248.0954 13.96736584  1934

Telemetry

2013-09-29 20:52:46.160 UTC: [136 Bytes KISS Frame (without CRC)]
   1 > C0 00 88 82 9C 88 8A 40 62 88 82 9C 88 8A 40 65 03 3A 64 61 
  21 > 6E 64 65 63 6F 73 67 63 00 00 3F 8D 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 
  41 > 00 00 05 F7 00 04 00 00 D0 02 00 01 00 00 00 FF 02 01 76 01 
  61 > 08 00 00 00 5F 00 98 01 00 01 03 00 F7 01 07 01 07 28 00 00 
  81 > 01 0F EF 00 25 0C B0 0B EC 0E DC 07 DD 06 AA 06 A5 05 F2 00 
 101 > 01 05 C8 09 B1 47 45 47 5B 0D 90 00 00 00 00 64 61 6E 64 65 
 121 > 2E 63 6F 6C 6F 72 61 64 6F 2E 65 64 75 73 21 C0 
À.ˆ‚œˆŠ@bˆ‚œˆŠ@e.:dandecosgc..?...........÷....Ð......ÿ..v....._.˜
.....÷....(....ï.%.°.ì.Ü.Ý.ª.¥.ò...È.±GEG[.....dande.colorado.edus!À
____________________________________________________________________
2013-09-29 20:53:36.360 UTC: [137 Bytes KISS Frame (without CRC)]
   1 > C0 00 88 82 9C 88 8A 40 62 88 82 9C 88 8A 40 65 03 3A 64 61 
  21 > 6E 64 65 63 6F 73 67 63 00 00 3F DB DC 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 
  41 > 00 00 00 05 F7 00 04 00 00 D0 02 00 01 00 00 00 FF 02 01 75 
  61 > 01 00 00 00 00 5F 00 98 01 00 00 FE 00 F2 01 07 01 07 28 00 
  81 > 00 01 0F F2 00 25 0C F9 0B EF 0E E0 07 DD 06 AA 06 A5 05 ED 
 101 > 00 01 05 C8 09 AF 47 4F 47 66 0D 90 00 00 00 00 64 61 6E 64 
 121 > 65 2E 63 6F 6C 6F 72 61 64 6F 2E 65 64 75 9A 86 C0 
À.ˆ‚œˆŠ@bˆ‚œˆŠ@e.:dandecosgc..?ÛÜ...........÷....Ð......ÿ..u....._.˜
...þ.ò....(....ò.%.ù.ï.à.Ý.ª.¥.í...È.¯GOGf.....dande.colorado.eduš†À

Status

DANDE is scheduled to launch in early Spring 2013 from Vandenburg Air Force base in California along with Cassiope and CUSAT 1 and 2. Launched and active.

Homepage and other references:

DANDE website: DANDE
ePortal DANDE information
High level design overview: download
On social media facebook en twitter