UniBRITE

Spacecraft nº:

Austrian spacecraft nº: 2

Launch data: Designation  39092 / 13009G Launch date  25 Feb 2013 - 12:31 UT Launch site  Sriharikota, FLP Launch vehicle  PSLV-CA Mission  Astronomy / Technology Earth orbit: Perigee / Apogee  778 x 790 km Eccentricity   Inclination  98.6 deg Period  100.4 min

Spacecraft data:

All Remove-Before-Flight articles have been removed and all final checklists have been completed. UniBRITE (NLS-8.1), BRITE-Austria (NLS-8.2) and AAUSAT3 (NLS-8.3) are ready for launch.

NLS-8 is the eight launch under the Space Flight Laboratory’s (SFL) Nanosatellite Launch Service (NLS) program (UTIAS). The NLS program focuses on regular, cost-effective, rapid access to space for a small group of spacecraft. While the NLS program predominantly supports SFL mission, it also provides opportunity for other spacecraft to launch. To date, the NLS program has successfully launched 16 spacecraft from various countries.

Description:

• CanX-3 (Canadian Advanced Nanospace eXperiments), also known as BRITE (BRIght-star Target Explorer), is a mission planned to make photometric observations of some of the brightest starts in the sky in order to examine these stars for variability. The observations will have a precision at least 10 times better than achievable using ground-based observations, and it will be packaged inside a CanX-class nanosatellite.
• The design is a 20 cm cube, chosen to accommodate the main telescope. It leverages a number of technologies qualified on CanX-2 and incorporates SFL's high-performance attitude control system, using reaction wheels developed in collaboration with Sinclair Interplanetary.
• The satellites each carry a 0.03m telescope-photometer for stellar photometry and astroseismology.

Satellite tracking: