LOGAN, Utah -- Identifying and tracking cubesats deployed on rideshare missions is a challenge that has forced some satellite operators to get creative when attempting to make contact with their spacecraft post-launch.
For conventional satellite missions, the U.S. Air Force Combined Space Operations Center (CSpOC) finds and tracks objects placed in orbit almost immediately after launch, allowing operators to quickly establish contact with their spacecraft and track them in orbit. But for rideshare missions, in which dozens of small satellites are deployed simultaneously, CSpOC needs days, and sometimes weeks, to . . .
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