XaTcobeo

Spacecraft nº:

Spanish spacecraft nº: 15

Launch data: Designation  38082 / 12006F Launch date  13 Feb 2012 - 10:00 UT Launch site  Ko, ELV Launch vehicle  Vega Mission  Civil: Technology Development LEO Earth orbit on Feb 13.85: Perigee / Apogee  309 x 1442 km Eccentricity  0.078 Inclination  69.48 deg Period  102.47 min

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

Credit: ESA

Description:

• The main objective of the mission is the deployment of XaTcobeo, a standard based 1U CubeSAT (10 cm × 10 cm × 10 cm) in the space, together with a ground segment which is being built at the University of Vigo. This satellite is being developed for transporting two payloads: a software defined reconfigurable radio (SRAD) and a system for measuring the amount of ionizing radiation (RDS). There is also an experimental solar panel deployment system (PDM).
• Will test a software-defined reconfigurable radio, an ionizing radiation measurement system and a solar panel deployment system.

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.