Big Red Sat-1

Big Red Sat-1
Mission typeTechnology demonstration
OperatorUniversity of Nebraska Aerospace Club's Advanced eXperimental Payloads
Websitehttps://bigredsat.org/
Mission duration105 days, 5 hours, 36 minutes
Spacecraft properties
SpacecraftBig Red Sat-1
Spacecraft typeCubeSat
Bus1U CubeSat
ManufacturerUniversity of Nebraska-Lincoln, National Laboratory of the Rockies
Launch mass0.871 kg
Start of mission
Launch date12 December 2023
Rocket Falcon 9 Block 5
Launch site Cape Canaveral SLC-40
Deployed fromInternational Space Station
Deployment date18 April 2024
End of mission
DisposalDeorbited
Decay date1 August 2024
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric
RegimeLow Earth orbit

Big Red Sat-1 was the first 1U CubeSat mission that characterized perovskite solar cells in low earth orbit. This mission was developed by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, in partnership with Oklahoma University and the National Laboratory of the Rockies, with funding from NASA's Educational Launch of Nanosatellites initiative and donors. The design and operation of the satellite was performed by an interdisciplinary team of middle school, high school, undergraduate, and graduate students. The principal investigator for this mission was Professor Karen Stelling at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The designs for this mission were made entirely open source for future missions.