e-st@r

Spacecraft nº:

Italian spacecraft nº: 30

Launch data: Designation  38079 / 12006C Launch date  13 Feb 2012 - 10:00 UT Launch site  Ko, ELV Launch vehicle  Vega Mission  Civil: Technology Elliptical Earth orbit: Perigee / Apogee  306 x 1313 km Eccentricity  7,01E-02 Inclination  69.48 deg Period  101.08 min

LARES, ALMASAT and Cubesats being prepared for launch. Credit: ESA

Credit: ESA

Description:

• e-st@r is a CubeSat-type naonsatellite built by the Politecnico di Torino.
• E-ST@R project is an educational and research program which is being carried out at Politecnico di Torino by the AeroSpace System Engineering Team (ASSET). Aim of the project is the development and launch into orbit of the E-ST@R satellite, which is a CubeSat class spacecraft. The project is entirely carried out by students, both graduate and undergraduate, under the supervision of researchers and professors.
• Following main scientific objectives and one secondary scientific objective have been identified:
  • first main scientific objective: development and test of an active Attitude Determination and Control Subsystem (ADCS);
  • secondary scientific objective: test of commercial components and materials.

Mission details:

• ESA's new small satellite launch vehicle, Vega, made its first flight successfully on Feb 13, 2011.
  The Vega booster took off from the Ensemble de Lancement Vega (ELV) at Kourou and headed northeast. The Zefiro 9A third stage burnt out at 1005 UTC and entered a marginal orbit (one estimate is around -30 x 775 km; another solution from the limited data available is around 50-60 km x 250-500 km). The stage probably reentered at first perigee at around 1112 UTC south of New Zealand, and has not been cataloged. The AVUM stage first burn was completed at 1008 UTC and probably reached an orbit of around 180 x 1450 km. At 1048 UTC the AVUM second burn began and resulted in a 1435 x 1452 km x 69.5 deg orbit.
• At 1106-1110 UTC AVUM's third burn lowered the perigee resulting in an orbit of around 310 x 1441 km. At 1110 UTC the three P-PODs released their cargo. Finally at 1111 UTC AlmaSat was ejected, and the AVUM vented its remaining propellant, ending up in a 272 x 1431 km x 69.5 km orbit.
• The Lares Support System, attached to the AVUM, can be considered an additional payload, as it includes extensive instrumentation to monitor the launch. It also deployed seven 1U Cubesats from three P-POD deployers:
  • P-POD 1 contained XaTcobeo, from the University of Vigo; `e-st@r' from the Politecnico di Torino; and ROBUSTA from the Universite' de Montpellier 2.
  • P-POD 2 ejected MaSat-1 from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics; Goliat from the University of Bucharest; and PW-Sat-1 from the Warsaw Inst. of Technology (Politechnika Warszawska).
  • P-POD 3 carried UNICubeSat-GG, from U. Roma La Sapienza, which has a gravity gradient experiment.
• Put into backup to charge batteries - tumbling has caused problems. Future project uncertain.