Tsitas, S. R.Kingston, Jennifer2014-01-252014-01-252010-11-30S. R. Tsitas and J. Kingston, 6U CubeSat design for Earth observation with 6.5m GSD, five spectral bands and 14Mbps downlink, The Aeronautical Journal, Volume 114, Issue 1161, Pages 689-697.0001-9240http://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/8165The design of a 6U Cube Sat including spacecraft systems and imagine payload is described for an Earth observation mission. From a Sun synchronous orbit at an altitude of 600km the design enables imaging with a 6.5m GSD, an optical MTF (on axis) of >59% at half Nyquist and >35% at Nyquist, a 26km swath, 12 bit digitisation and SNR of 120-200:one in five spectral bands; blue, green, red, red edge and near infrared. Data can be downlinked at the rate of 14 Mbps to a 3.7m S band ground station. This design allows an 8kg Cube Sat to perform Earth observation missions equivalent to those of current 50-150kg microsatellites, with a corresponding reduction in cost.en-UKArticle