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ELFIN

@elfinucla

I'm a cubesat! Run by @UCLA students, doing cool @NASA work while zipping through the Van Allen radiation belts.

 UCLA
elfin.igpp.ucla.edu
Joined July 2018
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Photo by ELFIN (@elfinucla)Photo by ELFIN (@elfinucla)Photo by ELFIN (@elfinucla)Photo by ELFIN (@elfinucla)Photo by ELFIN (@elfinucla)Photo by ELFIN (@elfinucla)Photo by ELFIN (@elfinucla)Photo by ELFIN (@elfinucla)Photo by ELFIN (@elfinucla)Photo by ELFIN (@elfinucla)
The number of radiation belt observations is a good metric for how much science ELFIN collected. Papers have been written on just 1-2 good crossings. With thousands, we get good statistical analysis on amounts of energy coupling magnetosphere + atmosphere. #spaceweather #cubesat
Image from ELFIN (@elfinucla)
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Here are some final messages sent back from ELFIN B before reentry. #cubesat #amsat
Image from ELFIN (@elfinucla)
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And a special thank you from ELFIN B to some of our final ELFIN listeners. There's so many to name & we couldn't name them all but we appreciate every one of you. #cubesat #amsat Also, ELFIN really misses being in space with our launch buddies @citronaut_dave @PolySat. Ad astra!
Image from ELFIN (@elfinucla)
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ELFIN-B has officially deorbited. It's an end of an era for us, but the science lives on. newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/EL…
Bye, ELFIN: As UCLA’s first student-built satellites meet their fiery demise, the science lives on

Bye, ELFIN: As UCLA’s first student-built satellites meet their fiery demise, the science lives on

Two CubeSats monitoring space radiation since 2018 have returned to Earth as shooting stars, next generation is coming.

newsroom.ucla.edu
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ELFIN B still lives! Pass occurred about 4.5 minutes early. New downlinks are scheduled at the following times: 9/30/22 07:45:00 9/30/22 09:13:00 9/30/22 12:33:00 9/30/22 13:32:23 9/30/22 14:09:00 #amsat #cubesat #elfinucla
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ELFIN B will be doing ~5 minute downlinks at the following times (in UTC): 09/29/22 08:11:15 09/29/22 14:08:05 09/29/22 17:00:00 (final UCLA pass) 09/29/22 20:19:00 09/29/22 21:48:24 09/29/22 22:54:18 09/30/22 00:22:02 09/30/22 02:16:00 09/30/22 03:46:00 #amsat #cubesat
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ELFIN B will reenter in roughly 24 hours. ELFIN B's final few days were spent observing reflected radiation belt electrons at low altitudes as well as the effects of increased atmospheric drag on the stability of a spinning spacecraft. #cubesat #amsat #spaceweather #elfinucla
Image from ELFIN (@elfinucla)
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On Sept 17, 2018 (exactly 4 years ago), we had our first real downlinks from the ELFIN CubeSats. #elfinucla #cubesat #amsat
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Today, we had our last...rest in peace ELFIN A. We will miss you dearly. 🛰️
Image from ELFIN (@elfinucla)
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And here's one more fun video from exactly 4 years ago. There was a software bug where we couldn't turn off a few burn resistors for our antenna deployment, so they burned so long our batteries got stressed to 60° C for an hour or two during early orbit.
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ELFIN A has deorbitted...we think probably sometime between 10 UTC and 14 UTC. Not quite an end of an era yet...we still got ELFIN B! #amsat #cubesat
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Looks like @EU1SAT got the last demodulated packets from ELFIN A around 8:30 UTC and maybe M0GKK had the last sighting of ELFIN A's signals... network.satnogs.org/observat…
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We want to thank everyone that has listened to us and contributed to @SatNOGS. Not only are you helping us with our science data, but you are also inspiring young engineering students here at UCLA with your dedication to amateur radios. #elfinucla #amsat #cubesat
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Update: obj. 43617 ELFIN A decay prediction: September 17, 2022 UTC 14h53mn ± 7h
Image from Joseph Remis (@jremis)
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ELFIN A will attempt to ~10 min downlinks at the following times in UTC: 09/17 05:45 (UCLA) 09/17 07:02 (Japan) 09/17 08:32 (Japan) 09/17 11:27 (Europe) 09/17 12:20 (South Africa) 09/17 12:56 (Europe) 09/17 17:14 (UCLA) 09/17 23:12 (East Coast) 09/18 00:45 (East Coast) #amsat
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Science data from 9/4 was very interesting. Due to TLE degradation, however, we're having trouble downlinking that data with good completeness on ELFIN A We'll be dl-ing this data in various N. hemi passes over the next 12ish hrs in case anyone wants help out ;) #amsat @SatNOGS
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Apologies deleted the last tweet because all the days were off by 1! 😜 Downlinks last roughly 10 min. 22/09/16 17:38:00 22/09/16 18:08:00 22/09/16 19:36:00 22/09/16 23:32:00 22/09/17 00:52:00 22/09/17 01:29:00 22/09/17 02:52:00 22/09/17 04:26:00 22/09/17 05:54:00
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Disregard the above. Unfortunately, the above schedule entries didn't make it onto ELFIN A. We'll try again for downlinks between 5-17 UTC on 9/17.
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4 years ago today, ELFIN A and ELFIN B blasted off into space on the final #DeltaII rocket to ever launch. The last 4 years proved to be a roller coaster of a journey for many #UCLA students who worked tirelessly to ensure ELFIN reached its maximum science potential. (1/3)
Image from ELFIN (@elfinucla)
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ELFIN's success has far exceeded even our own expectations, and we are all so very proud that it has come this far. Unfortunately, ELFIN-A is predicted to deorbit in 3 days on September 18th, with ELFIN-B following suit soon after. (2/3)
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Despite that, the ELFIN journey is not yet over: not only will plenty more papers and discoveries be coming in the following years, there will also be ELFIN's successors to be looking forward to ;) A very heartfelt thank you to all of our loyal listeners over the years! (3/3)
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