[5][6] Its goal was to demonstrate and map ice clouds through the use of its 883 GHz radiometer.

It had a submillimeter radiometer to overcome the limitation of ice particles in clouds being opaque in the infrared and visible spectrums.

[3][4][8] IceCube was a Sun-pointing spin-stabilized 3U CubeSat with two solar panel arrays.

[9] IceCube had a 883 GHz radiometer allowing the penetration of cloud layers and measurement of ice mass.

At 883 GHz, radiation is highly sensitive to scattering allowing it to interact with ice in the clouds.