SUNSAT

South Africa

Spacecraft n°:

South African spacecraft n°: 1

Stellenbosch UNiversity SATellite, also called SO-35, Oscar 35

Launch data:

Designation	25636 / 99008C
Launch date	23 Feb 1999
Launch site	Va, SLC-2W
Launch vehicle	Delta-7920-10 (#267)
Mission	Telecommunication, HAM
Earth orbit:
Perigee/Apogee	831/847 km
Inclination	98.7°
Period

Micro satellite being designed, built and tested by students at the Electronic Systems Laboratory in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Stellenbosch University. In exchange for a US National Aeronautics and Space Administration launch, Sunsat will carry a precision GPS receiver and a set of Laser retro-reflectors, provided by, and for use of NASA.

Specifications

Prime contractor	Stellen
Platform
Mass at launch	60 kg
Mass in orbit
Dimension	45 x 45 x 62 cm
Solar array
Stabilization
DC power
Design lifetime

The payload includes duplicate transmitters and receivers for the 2-meter (145.825 MHz) and 70-cm bands, a 24-cm (1260 MHz) receiver and 13-cm (2400 MHz) receiver. A number of uplink and downlink frequency combinations are possible. Sunsat will offer extensive digital communication capability. One of the 2-meter receivers has four IF sections connected to 1200-baud AFSK packet modems. The satellite carries three G3RUH-compatible 9600-baud modems that can be switched to various receivers and transmitters.

Telemetry on 436.25 & 436.30 MHz

It carries two NASA experiments and an experimental pushbroom imager capable of taking pictures of the earth. The high resolution imager providing 50x50 km coverage will operate in real time on S band.

End of life:

Out of service	19 Jan 2001
Cause	Hardware failure
Decay

Ref: #15 - update: 24.10.04