SIMBA

The Sun-earth IMBAlance (SIMBA) CubeSat mission was aimed at demonstrating the ability of a low-cost nano-satellite to measure the essential climate variables of total solar irradiance, Earth radiation budget and hence Sun-Earth radiation imbalance.

The SIMBA 3U CubeSat mission measured the Total Solar Irradiance and Earth Radiation Budget climate variables with a miniaturised radiometer instrument. Additionally, the mission also included the demonstration of a precise pointing system developed by KU Leuven, consisting of a new 3-axis ADCS with reaction wheels and star tracker. The CubeSat was originally planned to be launched with the QB50 constellation, however was eventually launched as a piggyback opportunity on the Vega launcher into Sun Synchronous Orbit and achieved its mission objectives. The IOD mission was extended several times up to a total duration of over 2 years in order to perform additional experiments with the payloads.