Science
AEROCUBE 8D
CubeSat Technology Demonstrator · The Aerospace Corporation
Right now
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The companion satellite to AeroCube-8C, forming the second AeroCube-8 mission pair. Like its sibling, AeroCube-8D tested novel spacecraft subsystems in the harsh reality of actual orbital operation — the only environment where certain design assumptions can truly be validated, since ground testing can simulate vacuum and thermal cycling but never perfectly replicates years of continuous radiation exposure and atomic oxygen erosion.
Its orbit
- Orbit
- Low Earth Orbitcan appear as a fast-moving star at dawn or dusk
- Altitude
- 305–308 mi (490–496 km)
- Inclination
- 98.1°
- One orbit
- 94.3 minutes15.3 orbits a day
- NORAD ID
- 41852
- Int’l designator
- 2016-067E
- Launched
- 2016
Orbital elements from CelesTrak, as of 22 Sep 2026.