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UNAMSAT

UNAMSAT is a 12 kg spacecraft built in Mexico at UNAM, a Mexican University. The primary payload was a 41MHz radar to study micrometeoroids and space debris, and a Mexican radio amateur payload was also included. The Russian Start-1 launcher failed after reaching orbit from Plesetsk on the 28th March 1995.

 

TechSat-1 (aka Gurwin-1)

The 55kg TechSat Gurwin-1 satellite launch of the Russian Start-1 launcher from Plesetsk failed on the 28th March 1995. The satellite was built in three years by the Haifa based Technion Institute of Technology with industrial and government support from the former Soviet Union. The satellite was supposed to be launched into a 670km orbit with a CCD camera as the primary payload, and secondary objectives to test momentum wheels, and a horizon sensor for 3-axis stabilisation. It also carried an amateur digital store and forward transponder, UV camera and X-ray detectors.
More detail at: [Technion Institute]

 

ASTRID, 1995-002B (23464).

A 28kg scientific and technology demonstration micro-satellite (picture) launched alongside TSIKADA, a Russian maritime navigational spacecraft, and the FAISAT minisat on the 24th January 1995 on a KOSMOS-3M launcher from Plesetsk on the 24th January 1995 at 03:54UTC, into a 1023x968km, 82.9 degree inclined orbit. It is built by the Swedish Space Corp. with a mission to explore neutral particles in orbit using three instruments (EMIL, MIO, and PIPPI) for measuring auroral plasma and for auroral imaging. It employs the Freja-C microsatellite bus, and contains an S-band downlink, which transmits compressed data at 8kbps, and 400/450MHz TT&C links. It is attitude stabilised using magnetic coils and nutation dampers, employing analogue sun-sensors and magnetometer sensors. The mission was cut short in March 95 due to an electrical fault. The satellite was developed and launched for a total cost of $1.4m.
References
[1] 9th AIAA/USU SSC '95
More detail at: [SSC] [ASTRID-1 at IRF] [paper]
Picture (right) courtesy of SSC.

 

ORBCOMM FM1 and ORBCOMM FM2, 1995-017A,B

Launched on April 3rd 1995 on a Pegasus launcher into a 747x734, 69.9 degree inclined orbit. Both are built by Orbital Sciences Corp. as part of a program to deploy a 26-satellite constellation providing global communications to hand-held terminals. The main payload is a transponder to relay the GPS-determined locations of cargo trucks, and data from oil pipeline monitors Other targeted applications are remote site data collection. ORBCOMM-1 was initially reported to have problems communications with subscriber terminals, and ORBCOMM-2 developed a problem which prevented it responding to uplink commanding, however both problems were solved. The 47kg satellites are disc shaped, with two deployed solar panels and a deployed antenna [picture-1, picture-2]. [More...][SSHP Small satellite constellations][ORBCOMM]
Picture courtesy of ORBCOMM.

 

MICROLAB-1, 1995-017C.

Launched on April 3rd 1995 on a Pegasus launcher into a 747x743, 69.9 degree inclined orbit. The Pegasus was launched from underneath an L-1011 aircraft from Vandenberg AFB. The 76kg microsatellite was built by Orbital Sciences Corp., and is based on the ORBCOMM bus. A picture shows it is disc shaped with two deployable solar panels. It carries a NASA lightning mapper, the Optical Transient Detector. It also carries a weather sensor for the National Science Foundation, employing a GPS-MET receiver monitoring the transmission from any GPS spacecraft that appears near the horizon and inferring temperature and humidity in its path. Both experiments have returned excellent and valuable data, and the GPS-MET experiment has yielded good cross-correlation with radiosonde observations.
More detail at: [ORBIMAGE] [NASA] [UCAR] [Avalon Microsystems Inc.]

 

GFZ-1, 1995-020A. (MIR 1986-017A)

GeoForchungsZentrum-1, a German 20kg passive reflector deployed from the MIR space station airlock on the 19th April 1995, initially delivered by a Progress M27 rocket. It was placed into 394x384, 52.56 degree inclined orbit. The satellite is spherical with 0.2m diameter and carries 60 reflectors. It was built by Kayser Threde of Germany. The spacecraft re-entered after the last sighting on the 23rd June 1999
More detail at: [Kayser-threde][GFZ Potsdam GFZ page]
Picture (right) courtesy of KT.

Cerise, 1995-033B.

CERISE (Characterisation de l'Environment Radio-electrique par un Instrument Spatial Embarque) is an experimental eavesdropping (ELINT) satellite by the French arms procurement agency Delegation Generale pour l'Armement (DGA) in the ZENON programme. The 50kg spacecraft is procured by Alcatel Espace from Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd., and was launched on July 7th 1995 on the Ariane V75 launcher ASAP, alongside UPMSAT, and with HELIOS 1A as the primary mission. The orbit is 666 x 675km inclined at 98.1 degrees. The spacecraft is box shaped with dimensions 600 x 350 x 350mm, has four fixed, and four deployable solar panels, and is gravity gradient (6m boom) and magnetorquer stabilised. Cerise measures and studies high frequency electronic signals in the 500MHz-20GHz band from targeted regions. The satellite is reported to have cost US$17.4m (1995).

It suffered the first accidental collision between two orbiting objects, other than at deployment. On Jul 21.41 (09.48 GMT) a piece of debris from the Ariane-1 third stage, which launched SPOT in 1986, collided with CERISE which was launched in July 1995. During the impact the upper portion of the CERISE gravity gradient boom was broken off, and was catalogued as 1995-033E. Orbital elements for the objects following the collision would suggest that the impact imparted no significant energy to either of the objects. The satellite is still operational, albeit with reduced performance attitude control.
More detail at: [SSTL]
Picture (right) courtesy of SSTL.

UPM-SAT, 1995-033C.

The Universidad Politecnica de Madrid Satellite is a microsat built by the University of Madrid and CIDE, Spain. The 44kg (47kg before separation) satellite was launched on the ARIANE V75 mission ASAP on the 7th July 1995 alongside CERISE, and the primary payload HELIOS 1A, a military remote sensing satellite. The orbit is 665x675km inclined at 98.1 degrees. The satellite is box shaped (picture) with dimensions 530 x 450 x 450mm, generates 30W end of life DC power from its four solar panels (three Si, one GaAs), and carries fluid dynamics and micro-gravity payloads. A 200kHz bandwidth UHF transmitter is also included for communications research. It is attitude stabilised using magnetorquers.
Picture courtesy of UoM

 

Magion-4, (S2-X, S2-T) 1995-039F

Magion-4 is a Czech microsatellite launched on a Molnia-M rocket on the 2nd August 1995 23:59GMT from launch site 43 of Plesetsk Cosmodrome. It was carried by the Interball-1 satellite and separated 9h21m later into a 192,000 x 776 km orbit inclined at 63 degrees. The satellite was designed at the Lavochkin Research and production Amalgamation and is intended to study the terrestrial magnetosphere, particularly its trail. The 50 kg satellite carries various instruments including two for plasma measurements, three for E/B waves, three for energetic particles/x-rays, and a magnetometer. These were designed by researchers at the Institute for Space Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences in close cooperation with scientists from 12 other countries. The spacecraft will remain within 100,000km from the main Interball Tail spacecraft to perform simultaneous measurements. In 1997 it is reported to have been operating successfully for two years.
[Picture][IKI Russia (Russian language pages also available)]
Picture courtesy of IKI.

 

FASat-Alfa

FASat-Alfa is the first Chilean satellite, and has been constructed under a Technology Transfer Program between the Chilean Air Force (FACH) and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) of the United Kingdom. The FASat-Alfa satellite will use the modular UoSAT bus, proved in ten previous missions. The satellite is being constructed at SSTL by a combined group of engineers from FACH and SSTL. FASat-Alfa was launched on the 31st August 1995 at 0130 UTC as a secondary payload to SICH-1 from Plesetsk Cosmodrome into a 682 x 651km circular orbit inclined at 82.53deg. The microsatellite failed to separate from the SICH-1 satellite (detail). It will be replaced by the FASat-Bravo follow-on mission. (Launched 1998)
More detail at: [SSTL][FASAT mission home page][JPL calendar news flash][The Launch configuration illustration shows FASat on top of SICH]