Binar-2, Binar-3 & Binar-4

About Binar-2, Binar-3 & Binar-4

A follow up to Binar-1, WA’s first satellite mission, Binar-2, 3, & 4 comprised three 1U CubeSats hosting scientific experiments, in-house developed technology validation and industry payloads. The upgraded platform on Binar-2, Binar-3 and Binar-4 extend the possibilities of the Binar-1 platform, increasing the institutional capability of the Binar Space Program.

On August 4, 2024 at 11:02 a.m. ET (11:02 p.m. AWST), the NG-21 Cygnus spacecraft carrying Binar-2, 3 & 4 successfully launched from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as part of Northrop Grumman’s 21st commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station (ISS). (LAUNCH VIDEO: NASA/YouTube)

The Cygnus spacecraft was captured by the International Space Station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm commanded by Expedition 71 Flight Engineer Matthew Dominick of NASA on August 6th.

Binar-234 were successfully deployed on August 29th, 2024 at 7:20PM AWST from the ISS (watch the replay of the livestream here!), marking the commencement of the operations phase of our mission. Binar’s launch service provider, SpaceBD of Japan facilitated the deployment from the JAXA Kibo Module of the ISS in the same way Binar-1 was deployed.

The Binar-234 satellites were deployed into a naturally decaying orbit below the ISS at an altitude of 400km above sea-level, and circled Earth every ~90 minutes for just 2 months (thanks in part to an extremely high level of solar activity during our mission, compared to the 6 months we anticipated), before burning up sustainably in the atmosphere.

Read more about the effect of the solar activity on our mission on Binar Space Program PhD Student Kyle McMullan’s Article published in The Conversation here: Right now, the Sun is far more active than predicted – and small satellites are paying the price.

The Binar Space Program team were able to receive beacons from all 3 of our CubeSats in their very first pass over our ground station at Curtin University, which occurred approximately 38 minutes after deployment. We continued to consistently receive and decode beacons from all 3 of our CubeSats for the entire duration of our mission, which contained valuable system and environmental data which will be invaluable to future Binar missions.

In addition to receiving beacon data from all 3 of our CubeSats, a major mission goal was also achieved with the successful transmission of commands from our ground station to the CubeSats.

A huge thank you to mission industry partner AVI as well as the amateur radio community who helped us establish communications and track their progress throughout our mission. More information is available in the Amateur Radio section of our website.