Active Cooling for Multispectral Earth Sensors (ACMES): Science Objectives, Technology, and Active Thermal Control

The Active Cooling for Multispectral Earth Sensors (ACMES) is an advanced CubeSat mission selected for flight under the In-space Validation of Earth Science Technologies (InVEST) program in support of the NASA Science Mission Directorate and the Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) [1]. The ACMES program is a joint development effort led by the Center for Space Engineering at Utah State University (CSE USU) in collaboration with Orion Space Solutions (OSS), and the Hawaii Space Flight Laboratory (HSFL) at the University of Hawaii Manoa. ACMES is currently scheduled to launch in 2025 to a ~550 km sun-synchronous Orbit (SSO) with a local node (ascending time) between 11:30 and 12:30. The ACMES satellite, a +16U CubeSat bus from the OSS Triton line, serves as a technology host platform for four unique remote and in situ earth-observing payloads. Including the second-generation Hyperspectral Thermal Imager (HyTI 2.0), The Filter Incidence Narrow-band Infrared Spectrometer (FINIS), the Planar Langmuir Impedance Diagnostic (PLAID) probe, and a novel active thermal control system. The Active Thermal Architecture technology (ATA). ACMES will consist of a 1-year primary mission to demonstrate and validate each of the hosted payloads in situ, raising the operational TRL to ~7, followed by up to a 3-year extended mission to gather valuable scientific data for the earth science community. The ACMES satellite and its payloads represent an important progression in satellite remote sensing and CubeSat technology/capabilities. Ultimately, the ACMES satellite represents a paradigm shift towards low-cost, fast-to-space, small satellite constellations that are scientifically valuable space platforms. Producing IR observations on par, if not exceeding traditional satellite missions. It is the author's hope, that in the future, small satellites will provide continuous observations of the near-earth environment and that ACMES will demonstrate that capability.