M3MSat-Dummy

Spacecraft nº:

Russia spacecraft nº:

Launch data: Designation  40073 / 14037E Launch date  08 Jul 2014 - 15:58 UT Launch site  Baik, LC-31/6 Launch vehicle  Soyuz-2-1b Fregat-M Mission  Experimental communication Earth orbit: Perigee / Apogee  624 x 633 km Eccentricity   Inclination   98.38° Period  97.29 min

Spacecraft data:

Description:

• The M3MSat (Maritime Monitoring and Messaging Micro-satellite) is a technology demonstration mission jointly funded and managed by Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). The spacecraft will support Canadian sovereignty, security, safety and communications needs within the territorial and maritime regions of Canada and beyond.
• M3MSat will make use of the multi-mission micro-satellite bus concept recently defined by the CSA. COM DEV has announced the commencement of an internally funded program to develop a class of micro-satellites capable of meeting the CSA's objective of launching a range of missions using a common platform.
• M3MSat is expected to demonstrate the full capability of advanced spaced-based AIS (Automatic Identification System) technology developed by COM DEV. AIS signals are broadcast from the world's major marine vessels for navigation and identification purposes, but currently they are only collected by other ships and land-based receivers within a 50 nautical mile range. Collection of the signals from space using COM DEV's unique AIS technology, which exceeds the performance of any other known system, would enable an unprecedented global view of the world's shipping traffic.
• M3MSat features two AIS Payloads each with two polarizations and 4 channels. The data will be sent by a C-Band payload downlink to the ground stations. The AIS will be operated as exactView 7 (EV 7).

Mission details:

• On Jul 8 2014 at 1558 UTC Russia launched a Soyuz-2-1B with a Fregat upper stage. The Blok-I stage entered a 183 x 198 km orbit; the Fregat then maneuvered to 191 x 813 km and 818 x 828 km x 98.8 deg, where it deployed the Meteor-M No. 2 weather satellite in an 0900LTDN SSO.
• The Fregat then restarted at 1736 UTC to enter a 638 x 825 km orbit, ejected a payload adapter frame and the Relek (MKA-FKI) satellite which will study relativistic electrons in the magnetosphere. A further burn to 635 x 635 km was followed by deployment at 1828 to 1832 UTC of the TDS-1, SkySat-2, DX-1, AISSat-2, and UKube-1 satellites. A mass model of Canada's M3MSat was also ejected; the actual M3MSat was pulled from the launch following the Ukraine crisis.

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