Mini NASA satellite begins environmental testing
Nasa'S Goddard Space Flight Center
Dellingr’s exterior is lined with solar panels. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Bill Hrybyk Construction of NASA’s Dellingr CubeSat - a miniature satellite that provides a low-cost platform for missions - is complete, and the satellite has just left the lab for environmental testing. This is a key step after any satellite has been built to make sure it can withstand intense vibrations, the extremes of hot and cold, and even the magnetic fields of space - all the rigorous conditions the CubeSat will encounter during launch and spaceflight. Named for the god of dawn in Norse mythology, Dellingr will study the ionosphere - the outer region of Earth’s atmosphere populated by charged particles, ionized by incoming solar radiation and magnetospheric particle precipitation. Slightly larger than a cereal box, Dellingr carries three novel payloads to perform this science: a miniaturized mass spectrometer and two no-boom magnetometer systems.