UNITEC-1
| UNITEC-1 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NSSDC ID | 2010-020F | ||||||
| Mission goal | Venus | ||||||
| Client | UNISEC ( Japan ) | ||||||
| Launcher | H-IIA (202) | ||||||
| construction | |||||||
| Takeoff mass | 15.76 kg | ||||||
| Course of the mission | |||||||
| Start date | May 20, 2010, 21:58 UTC | ||||||
| launch pad | Tanegashima , YLP-1 | ||||||
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UNITEC-1 (UNISEC Technology Experiment Carrier-1) - is an interplanetary space probe of the Japanese university consortium UNISEC (University Space Engineering Consortium).
course
The size of a nanosatellite , this university probe was sent on an orbit to Venus and was intended to be used for technological experiments and communication attempts over great distances.
The launch took place on May 20, 2010 (local time: May 21) with an H-IIA (202) launcher from the Japanese launch site Tanegashima . This rocket also brought the Akatsuki Venus probe , the IKAROS solar sail experiment and three smaller CubeSats into a transfer orbit. UNITEC-1 was the last satellite to be separated from the H-IIA upper stage. The day after the launch, the signals from the probe could be received until it entered the earth's shadow. The distance was about 320,000 km. Further attempts at reception were unsuccessful and were discontinued on May 31.
Technical specifications
- Size: cube-shaped 35 × 35 × 35 cm
- Mass: 15.76 kg
- Downlink frequency: 5.8 GHz
- Downlink transmission power: 9.6 watts
Mission objectives
- Various on-board computers from the participating universities will be tested in the form of a competition.
- Reception of very weak radio signals with low data rates from space.
- Determination of the orbit data of the probe by bearing and evaluation of the Doppler shift using Kalman filters .
construction
Five sides of the cube-shaped space probe carry solar cells made of gallium arsenide . The connection to the launcher or the separation mechanism is attached on the sixth side. All on-board systems are mounted on four vertical plates on the inside of the body. The solar cells are used to supply energy to the payloads and charge one of the nickel-metal hydride batteries for buffering . The systems are not redundant. The probe has no attitude stabilization, which means that it wobbles during flight . The probe has a superordinate on-board computer (main onboard computer) and six other on-board computers (university onboard computers), which are provided by the participating universities and should be compared in their performance under space conditions.