PoSAT-1

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PoSAT-1 (OSCAR 28)
Country: PortugalPortugal Portugal
COSPAR-ID : 1993-061G
Mission dates
Dimensions: 50 kg
Begin: September 26, 1993
Starting place: Center Spatial Guyanais
Launcher: Ariane-40 H-10
Status: inactive since 2006
Orbit data
Rotation time : 100.6 min
Orbit inclination : 98.8 °
Apogee height :  803 km
Perigee height :  789 km

PoSAT-1 (also OSCAR 28 ) is the first Portuguese satellite . It is a technology testing, earth observation, and amateur radio satellite .

It was launched into orbit from the Kourou Space Center in French Guiana on September 26, 1993 along with the SPOT 3 , Stella , Healthsat 2 , Eyesat , ITAMSAT and KITSAT 2 satellites with an Ariane 40 H-10 launcher and approximately Separated from the launcher 20 minutes after takeoff at an altitude of 807 kilometers.

history

PoSAT-1 belongs to the class of microsatellites and has a modular structure with 11 slots that contain various electronic subsystems, such as a computer system board, star sensor , global positioning system , two radio transmission units with 2 and 10 watt transmission power and the computing system for digital processing and storage of the camera data and the control of the satellite. The four solar modules, each made of 1344 GaAs semiconductor elements, are attached to the sides of the structure of the satellite. 10 nickel-cadmium batteries are installed to store the solar energy .

The earth observation system consists of two CCD cameras that work independently in parallel. However, they have different angular ranges. One camera covers an area of ​​1232 × 1267 km on earth (wide angle) with a resolution of 2.2 km, the other has a coverage of 123 × 127 km with a resolution of 220 m (telephoto). All images are processed, compressed by the transputer module, stored in a RAM disk and can be called up by the ground station.

It forms a cuboid measuring 35 × 35 × 58 centimeters. The total mass of the satellite is around 50 kilograms.

The whole project was funded and developed by a consortium of universities and companies in Portugal. The satellite itself was built in Great Britain by the SSTL company on the basis of the SSTL-70 microsatellite platform . The development and construction costs were named at around 5 million euros. The director and developer of the PoSAT project is Fernando Carvalho Rodrigues from the “Instituto Superior Técnico”, who is also known as the father of the Portuguese satellites. The satellite is controlled from the ground station of the "Companhia Portuguesa Rádio Marconi" near the Portuguese city of Sintra . The transfer of data takes place in the so-called store and forward (engl. Store and forward ), the communication system used for remote control and telemetry a modulator (FSK 9600 kbps 34.8) and a demodulator (FSK and AFSK 9600-1200 bps).

use

The General Staff of the Portuguese Armed Forces used the PoSAT-1 to transmit data to the Navy's military units on missions abroad. It also served as a communication system for store-and-forward messages for the ground forces of the armed forces of Portugal as part of the UN peacekeeping mission , such as in Angola (UNAVEM III).

Amateur radio

Radio amateurs were also able to use part of the transmission technology at times. For this purpose, the satellite was equipped with a bulletin board, which enabled Internet traffic in a partial route . In this function it is managed as OSCAR 28 or PO-28 (PoSAT-OSCAR 28). From the end of 1994 to 2005 it was not usable for radio amateurs.

consortium

  • INETI - Instituto Nacional de Engenharia, Tecnologia e Inovação
  • EFACEC , Electromecânica SA
  • OGMA, Indústria Aeronáutica de Portugal SA
  • Companhia Portuguesa Rádio Marconi SA
  • Oficinas Gerais de Material Aeronaútico, SA
  • Alcatel Portugal
  • CEDINTEC - Centro de Desenvolvimento e Inovação Tecnológicos
  • IST - Instituto Superior Técnico
  • UBI - Universidade da Beira Interior
  • Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd , final assembly

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ POSAT 1. N2YO, November 20, 2016, accessed on November 20, 2016 (English).
  2. ↑ PoSat 1 in the NSSDCA Master Catalog (English)
  3. ↑ SSTL: PoSAT-1: Launched 1993 ( Memento from July 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ eoPortal Directory: PoSAT-1 (Portuguese Satellite-1) ( Memento from June 22, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ^ Posat Consorcio
  6. ^ Angola (UNAVEM III) and Corvette NRP António Enes
  7. ↑ PoSAT-1 e as comunicações tácticas, F. Carvalho Rodrigues, Jornal do Exército 393/394 (messages from the Portuguese armed forces)