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  SimpleSat,
2001-035B (26889)- SimpleSat was deployed on the 20th August 2001 from the Space Shuttle Discovery mission STS105 as
a hitchhiker payload. The spacecraft carries a telescope and relies solely
on GPS for attitude information. Unfortunately it was not possible to
establish communications with the spacecraft and it re-entered the
atmosphere on the 30th January 2002. More...
[Simplesat web site][Simplesat
at GSFC][Accommodation
picture]
Picture courtesy of NASA GSFC
- LRE
 ,
2001-038A (26898)
- The Laser Ranging Experiment is an 86kg passive reflector satellite for
geodesy research launched on the 29 August 2001 from Tanegashima (Japan) on
the H-2A launcher, into a Geostationary Transfer Orbit of 260 x 36,137km
inclined at 28.1° degrees. It has a 510 mm diameter and measures 538mm tall
including separation system. It is covered with 24 metal
mirror plates and 126 laser retro-reflectors. More...
[Picture of LRE accommodation]
Picture courtesy of NASDA
- Starshine-3,
2001-043A (26929)
- STARSHINE-3 was launched on KodiakStar, the first orbital launch from
the Alaskan launch site on the 29th September 2001. The spacecraft was placed into a 470km circular orbit inclined at 67 degrees.
It is covered in reflectors and is intended to be tracked visually by
schools and amateurs worldwide. The spacecarft finally re-entered on the
21st January 2003. More...
[Starshine website][Launch
events pictures at NASA Kennedy Space Centre]
Picture courtesy of NASA
- PICOSAT,
2001-043B (26930)
- PICOSAT was launched on the 29th September 2001 on the first launch from
Kodiak in Alaska. The Athena-1 launcher placed the spacecraft into an 800km circular orbit inclined at 67
degrees, with PCSAT, Sapphire and Starshine-3 as co-passengers. PICOSAT is an SSTL
manufactured microsatellite manufactured and operated in orbit under a US$5.2m (1997) contract for the US Air
Force's Space and Missile Systems Centre, funded via the Foreign Comparative Test Program.
The 65kg satellite carries a range of technology demonstration payloads (PBEX,
IOX, CERTO and OPPEX hence the P.I.C.O. in the name) , and was launch
ready by the end of 1998. CERTO is a coherent set of radio beacons for
vertically sounding the ionosphere (150.012MHz and 400.032MHz), IOX performs the same ionospheric
sounding, but horizontally by measuring the path between rising and setting
GPS spacecraft and an on-board receiver. PBEX is a Polymer battery
experiment, and OPPEX is a sensor vibration isolation payload. More...
[Launch
events pictures at NASA Kennedy Space Centre][Launch
picture][PICOSAT picture
in Thermal Vacuum]
Picture courtesy of SSTL
- PCSAT
 ,
2001-043C (26931)
- The Prototype Communications Satellite (PCSAT) was launched on an Athena-1
launcher on the 29th September 2001; the first launch from Kodiak in Alaska. The
launcher placed the spacecraft
into an 800km circular orbit inclined at 67 degrees, with PICOSAT, Sapphire and Starshine-3 as co-passengers. PCSAT serves the amateur
paging service and Automatic Position Reporting System (APRS). It will
receive digital identity and position data from mobile terminals and
transmits and reports this to various groundstations. The cubic shaped
spacecraft carries a TNC, VHF 3W transmitter. The spacecraft has been
designed and built by midshipmen of the US Naval Academy (USNA), and has
been reported operational one month after launch. More...
[PCSAT at USNA][Launch
events pictures at NASA Kennedy Space Centre]
References
[1] Satellite on a shoestring going strong one month later, ["http://www.usna.com/WhatsNew/2001/Satellite.htm"]
Picture courtesy of USNA
- Sapphire
(Squirt-1), 2001-043D (26932)
- The SAPPHIRE microsatellite (Stanford AudioPhonic
PHotographic InfRared Experiment also known as Satellite
Quick Research Test Bed) was launched on the 29th
September 2001, on an Athena-1 launcher as the first launch from Kodiak
Alaska. The spacecraft was placed into an 800km orbit inclined at 67
degrees, with co-passengers PICOSAT, PCSAT and Starshine-3. It has been built and designed by Stanford
University and Washington University -St.Louis. The Stanford Audio Phonic
Photographic Infrared Experiment (SAPPHIRE) spacecraft aims to
space-qualify a tunnelling horizon detector which was developed by Stanford
University and JPL. The spacecraft also includes a voice synthesiser for
telemetry reporting on the downlink, a digital camera and GPS receiver. The spacecraft
will be operated by the US Naval Academy. The microsatellite was refused to be exported by the
US state department in early 1999, to be launched for free on a Russian launcher.
More...
[Sapphire
at Stanford University][Launch
events pictures at NASA Kennedy Space Centre]
Picture courtesy of SU
- PROBA
 ,
2001-049B (26958)
- The ESA commissioned Project for On-Board Autonomy (PROBA) is a 94kg small satellite measuring
600x600x800mm. Its mission is to demonstrate a
high degree of on orbit autonomy, as well as 3-axis control, and data system
technologies on a micro-satellite. The spacecraft was launched with the ISRO
TES mission and BIRD microsatellite on the 22nd October 2001, on a PSLV
launcher into a 568x639km sun-synchronous orbit. The total program cost is
US$14.5m (1996), with the prime contractor Verhaert
in Belgium. There is also significant involvement from other ESA companies. The
spacecraft carries a high resolution spectrometer , space radiation monitor and space
debris monitor, and two further cameras.
The spacecraft avionics include a star camera, GPS
receiver (SSTL UK), ERC32
based data handling S-band 1Mbps downlink (SIL/SSTL
UK), and a Lithium Ion battery (AEA UK).
-
- The SIRA Electro-Optics (UK)
developed Compact High Resolution Imaging System (CHRIS) is a hyperspectral
imager weighs 14kg. It features an 18.6km swath with 18m ground sampling
distance, and can sample 62 simultaneous spectral channels. The spacecraft
also carries a wide angle panchromatic camera and panchromatic High
Resolution Camera (HRC) with 8m ground sampling distance, both developed by
OIP (Belgium). The Standard Radiation Environment Monitor (SREM)
by Contraves (Switzerland) measures the space radiation environment and the
Debris In Orbit Evaluator (DEBIE) developed by Space Systems
(Finland) samples the debris environment. The spacecraft is controlled from
the ESA REDU
groundstation in Belgium. The autonomy experiments will attempt to
significantly reduce the dependence on the ground operators.
-
- The first images [5] obtained
during commissioning were published in January 2002, and some will
eventually be distributed under an outreach programme via the internet [4].Following
a definition phase, the spacecraft was started in September 1998, and was
ready for launch in October 2001. The mission was designed for a 2 year
life-time
[Announcement of Opportunity at USRA][Experimenter
handbook][CHRIS
homepage][Proba at
ESA][PROBA at Verhaert][Proba article in
Dutch][Paper
model of the spacecraft!]
References
[1] Surrey delivers GPS for PROBA mission, SpaceDaily, 4
August 1999, ("http://www.spacedaily.com/news/microsat-99f.html""http://www.spacedaily.com/news/microsat-99f.html"
[2] The project test bed and its application to future missions, ESA bulletin
95, ("http://esapub.esrin.esa.it/bulletin/bullet95/FRANCO.htm")
[3] Indian Launch a success for European Satellite, ("http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/ESAIQLZK0TC_Benefits_0.html")
[4] Microsatellite will hook into internet, ("http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/ESA0YJJUWSC_index_0.html")
[5] First PROBA images promise a wealth of information, ("http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/ESA4KC094UC_index_1.html")
Picture courtesy of ESA
- BIRD
 ,
2001-049C (26959)
- A German Aerospace Centre (DLR) funded 92kg satellite
measuring 500x500x500mm. The Bi-Spectral Infra Red detection (BIRD) satellite
was launched with ISRO's TES satellite on PSLV together with the PROBA
microsatellite. It was placed into a 568x568km sun-synchronous polar orbit
on the 22nd October 2001. The spacecraft tests new Infra-Red array sensors in two cameras to detect
fires and volcanic activity. It has also demonstrated thematic on-board processing using
neural networks. The spacecraft carries two visible spectrum cameras for stereo
imaging to gather information about vegetation condition and variations. The complement of
cameras will also be employed to distinguish between smoke and water vapour clouds.
[DLR][BIRD
at DLR]
Picture courtesy of DLR
- Kompass,
2001-056B, (27002)
- Kompass was launched with the METEOR-3M-N1 meteorological satellite on a Zenit launcher
from Baikonur Kosmodrome on the 10th December 2001, into a 996x1050km sun-synchronous
orbit inclined at 99.7degrees. Other piggyback payloads on the same launch
include Tubsat-C, Kompass and Reflector. Kompass is an 80kg spacecraft
designed by the Institute of Earth Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radio Waves
Propagation (IZMIRAN) and built by the Makayev State Rocket Center. It was
to explore Earthquake science by measuring electromagnetic fields, but
difficulties were reported in contacting the spacecraft. More...
[Launch fit-check family photo][IZMIRAN]
- BADR-2,
2001-056C, (27003)
- BADR-2 (BADR-B before launch) is a follow up microsatellite project of the Pakistani space agency (SUPARCO),
to its original BADR-A microsatellite project.
BADR-2 is developed in collaboration with UK industry
and science institutes. Instruments monitor clouds to high resolution, and
atmospheric atomic oxygen. The satellite weighs 68.5kg and is built and designed in
Pakistan with some foreign sub-systems. The camera is developed by RAL in the UK.
BADR-B2 was launched with the METEOR-3M-N1 meteorological satellite on a Zenit launcher
from Baikonur Kosmodrome on the 10th December 2001, into a 996x1050km sun-synchronous
orbit inclined at 99.7degrees. Other piggyback payloads on the same launch
include Tubsat-C, Kompass and Reflector. More...
[BADR-2 at SUPARCO][BADR-B camera at
RAL][Launch fit-check family photo]
Picture courtesy of SUPARCO
- TUBSAT-C
(Morocco-Sat), 2001-056D, (27004)
- TUBSAT-C is a 47kg microsatellite project by the
Technical University of Berlin in collaboration with the customer, the
Centre Royal de Teledetection Spatiale, Morocco. It was launched with the METEOR-3M-N1 meteorological satellite on a Zenit launcher
from Baikonur Kosmodrome on the 10th December 2001, into a 996x1050km sun-synchronous
orbit inclined at 99.7degrees. Other piggyback payloads on the same launch
include Tubsat-C, Kompass and Reflector. The spacecraft weighs 45 kg, and
carries an imager developed by RAL in the UK, with 770x576 pixels, and a
store-forward communications experiment. It also carries an attitude control and determination
experiment including three reaction wheels and three laser ring gyros. The
downlink is a 2W 256kbps S-band transmitter. More...
[TUB][Maroc-Tubsat][Layout
exploded diagram][Launch fit-check family
photo]
Picture courtesy of NASA
- Starshine-2,
2001-054B, (26996)
- STARSHINE-2 was launched from the Space Shuttle mission STS-108 on the
17th December 2001. The spacecraft was
placed into a 361x389km orbit inclined at 51.6 degrees. It was covered in
reflectors with the help from 25,000 students in 26 countries, and is
intended to be tracked visually by schools and amateurs worldwide. More...
[Starshine website][Launch
accommodation #1][Launch
events pictures at NASA Kennedy Space Centre]
Picture courtesy of NASA
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