Exotrail Confirms Successful Deployment of NASA-…

Exotrail Confirms Successful Deployment of NASA-Funded AEPEX CubeSat via Spacevan 002

The 6U CubeSat was delivered to its precise target orbit using Exotrail’s spacevan 002 orbital transfer vehicle (OTV), which launched earlier this year as part of the SpaceX Transporter-16 rideshare mission.

The AEPEX mission, led by the University of Colorado Boulder, is designed to study how high-energy electrons from Earth’s radiation belts precipitate into the upper atmosphere. This process plays a critical role in Earth’s atmospheric chemistry and climate modeling. By utilizing the spacevan 002, the AEPEX team was able to achieve a specific orbital inclination and altitude (approximately 500 km at an inclination above 70 degrees) that standard rideshare launches typically cannot reach without secondary propulsion.

The spacevan 002, dubbed “Wings of Light,” is Exotrail’s first fully vertically integrated OTV, featuring an in-house designed satellite bus and electric propulsion system. Unlike the company’s 2023 debut mission, spacevan 002 was optimized for “pick-up and drop-off” services, allowing it to transport multiple customer payloads to distinct orbital trajectories within a single mission.