Urban environments have become an important component of the global climate system, yet regional, KM scale environmental monitoring of cities and their surroundings remains lacking. Routine orbital…

The federal contract award NNX16AI68A was made to Arizona State University (ASU) by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to develop and launch the Phoenix CubeSat. The $198,128 cooperative agreement will fund the design, fabrication, and operation of this 3U CubeSat, which will carry a thermal infrared imaging payload to study the urban heat island effects in Phoenix, Arizona. The project will involve interdisciplinary teams of undergraduate students from ASU's engineering, geoscience, and sustainability programs, with mentoring from graduate students and faculty. The CubeSat will also provide secondary science data on ocean currents, volcanic plumes, and other surface processes. This award is not associated with a set-aside contract vehicle, and there are no major subcontractors identified.

Urban environments have become an important component of the global climate system, yet regional, KM scale environmental monitoring of cities and their surroundings remains lacking. Routine orbital imaging of cities can address the effects of urbanization on local and regional land atmosphere interactions, air quality, health, hazard assessment, water and energy transportation, and other climate factors. We propose a 3U cubesat to demonstrate the effectiveness of nanosat platforms to conduct scientific investigations of urban environments. The phoenix cubesat will carry a thermal IR imaging payload to study spatial and temporal changes in the heat properties of phoenix, arizona. The imager is based on the thesis instrument developed by an ASU student using commercial micro bolometer arrays. The system WUL yield secondary science from thermal imaging of ocean currents, volcanic plumes, and other surface processes.minimum orbital requirements are satisfled by 40 degree inclinations and 400 KM or higher altitudes. Launch will be coordinated through csli and operations will be conducted from ASU's tempe campus using its ground data station. Phoenix will be designed and fabricated by ASU's sun devil satellite lab undergraduate organization with mentoring from an ASU graduate student and faculty, including the PI and another professor. Senior capstone teams from ASU's schools of engineering will work with interdisciplinary teams of geoscience and sustainability undergraduates to conduct the mission. ASU will create new internships for journalism undergraduates to be embedded in the project for documentation. Graphic design undergraduates will provide dedicated artwork for the spacecraft, mission materials, and data analytics