Lesson 1 of 4 · Follow two different deployment paths
Follow two different deployment paths
6 minute lesson · 3 checks along the way
Your goal for this lessonDistinguish the Egyptian NARSSCube spacecraft and explain why cargo transport, release and first reception are separate milestones.
In this lesson 3 sections · 3 checks
Using archive links & definitions
Follow a linked name to explore its archive card. “Back to your lesson” brings you to the same part of the reading.
Read & understand
Small spacecraft, specific engineering work
NARSSCube developed Egyptian experience with satellite subsystems and operations through cooperation with the Kyushu Institute of Technology in Japan. The program includes NARSScube-1 and NARSScube-2; their similar names do not make their flight histories interchangeable. NARSS is Egypt’s National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences.
JAXA identifies NARSSCube-1 as a one-unit CubeSat and reports its deployment from Kibo on 20 November 2019, alongside Rwanda’s RWASAT-1 and Japan’s AQT-D. Its camera demonstration was described with a 200-metre resolution goal. The deployment announcement does not itself validate delivered images against that specification.
Check 1 of 3
10 pointsUse the reading above. You can try again without losing points.
Read & understand
A different route for the second spacecraft
The contemporary BIRDS project report describes NARSSCube-2 as built at NARSS and tested at Kyutech. It dates its release from Cygnus to 7 August 2019 at 15:30 UTC and reports Kyutech receiving the beacon on 8 August. Those are separate events, recorded by the participating team.
NASA’s photograph in this lesson shows Cygnus leaving the station on 6 August. It illustrates a cargo vehicle operating separately after departure; it is not a photograph of either CubeSat being released. A cargo spacecraft may transport equipment, support experiments and carry deployment hardware, so its own departure should not be substituted for a passenger’s deployment time.
Two spacecraft, separate flight histories
Original teaching diagram. Dates follow the cited participant reports; rows are not drawn to a common time scale.
Open full-size diagram in a new tab: Two spacecraft, separate flight historiesNASA’s view of Cygnus departing the International Space Station on 6 August 2019. The cargo vehicle and its two circular solar arrays illustrate the carrier environment discussed in the NARSSCube course. This frame does not show a NARSSCube deployment or identify a visible CubeSat.
Look closely
Which parts belong to the carrier, and what event is not shown here?
See what to notice
The central cargo vehicle and two circular solar arrays belong to Cygnus. This NASA departure view does not show either NARSSCube release or establish that a small satellite is visible.
Check 2 of 3
10 pointsUse the reading above. You can try again without losing points.
Read & understand
Keep the spacecraft and event attached to the date
A useful mission timeline has a row for each spacecraft and labels the event: carried to orbit, released, first heard, commissioned or retired. A spacecraft held inside a cargo vehicle is already in space but is not yet a free-flying satellite. Likewise, hearing a signal later does not move the release date to the reception date.
Try an invented example: a package arrives at a station on day 2, is released on day 8 and is first heard on day 9. The free-flight interval before first reception is one day, not seven. Keeping these events distinct explains what the team has actually achieved and which parts of the system still need checking.
Check 3 of 3
10 pointsUse the reading above. You can try again without losing points.
Put it together
Your lesson progress
Each check connects to a part of the story. Complete all 3 to earn your 25-point lesson bonus.
Explore further · Optional
Go to the source
Explore the evidence behind this lesson. These optional readings and videos open in a new tab.
- Read: JAXA: NARSSCube-1 deployment and demonstration goalsRetrospective published 3 December 2019 describing deployment on 20 November. The 200-metre camera description is a demonstration specification, not an independent validation of returned imagery.
- Read: NASA: station operations on 20 November 2019
- Read: BIRDS project newsletter 43: NARSSCube-2 reception, pages 31–32Pages 31–32: participant report of NARSSCube-2 release on 7 August 2019 and first Kyutech reception on 8 August. Historical observations, not present health; some later secondary summaries give a different release date.
- Read: NASA: Cygnus departure, 6 August 2019