| Mission type | Biological research |
|---|---|
| Operator | Santa Clara University |
| COSPAR ID | 1998-067NG |
| SATCATno. | 43019 |
| Website | EcAMSat |
| Mission duration | 25 days[1] 152.5 hr Main Experiment[2] |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Bus | NASA NanoSat 1.0 Bus |
| Manufacturer | NASA |
| Launch mass | 10.7 kilograms (24 lb) |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 12 November 2017, 12:19 (2017-11-12UTC12:19Z) UTC[3][4] |
| Rocket | Antares 230 |
| Launch site | MARSLP-0A |
| Contractor | Orbital ATK |
| End of mission | |
| Decay date | 8 December 2021[5] |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Regime | Low Earth |
| Perigee altitude | 405.7 kilometres (252.1 mi) |
| Apogee altitude | 413.4 kilometres (256.9 mi) |
| Inclination | 51.6 degrees |
| Period | 92.6 minutes |
| Epoch | 1 December 2017[6] |
EcAMSat, orE. coli AntiMicrobial Satellite, wasNASA's first 6UCubeSat, developed to investigate the effects ofmicrogravity on theantibiotic resistance ofE. coli. The spacecraft was launched aboard anOrbital ATKAntares rocket fromWallops Flight Facility on 12 November 2017, and was deployed from theInternational Space Station on 20 November 2017.
During the development of thePharmaSat spacecraft, two identical flight units were built and brought to the launch site, with the FLT-2 unit being the one ultimately launched as "PharmaSat". The FLT-1 unit sat in storage, and was later put to use as aNASAAmes Research Center Mission of Opportunity (MoO) flight, selected for funding under the Stand Alone Missions of Opportunity program. Originally named "PharmaSat-ECAM",[7] EcAMSat was developed from both legacy hardware and software from the PharmaSat mission.
EcAMSat was the fifth mission to utilizeNASAAmes Research Center's NanoSat 1.0 bus, which has flown onGeneSat-1,PharmaSat,NanoSail-D2, andO/OREOS.
EcAMSat was operated bySanta Clara University's Robotic Systems Lab inSanta Clara, California. After deployment, the firstamateur radio beacon packets were received by amateur radio operator JA0CAW on 20 November 2017,[1] and Santa Clara University closed the S-Band radio link for the first time on 21 November 2017.
EcAMSat transmitted anAX.25 beacon packet once every 5 seconds at 437.100 megahertz.[8]