The MAST payload incorporated three picosatellites, named "Ralph," "Ted," and "Gadget," which were intended to separate and deploy a 1 km (0.62 mi) tether.
Gadget was designed to slowly crawl up and down the tether after deployment, acquiring images as it moves.
They think Ralph's battery charge has dropped below the level needed to sustain radio operation.
[6] The experimenter team made contact with the "Gadget" picosatellite, but not with "Ted", the tether-deployer picosatellite, because the Ted pico satellite was powered only by a primary battery, which had depleted by the time the team gained access to the ground station.
Radar measurements show the tether initially deployed just 1 meter,[6][7] The mission experienced communications challenges due to limited availability of the ground station, which resulted in the team establishing contact with only one of the three pico satellites.