Uosat-12

United Kingdom

Spacecraft nº:

UK spacecraft nº: 29

Also called: WavSat-2, UO-36 and UoSAT-OSCAR-36

Launch data:

Designation 25693 / 99021A
Launch date 21 Apr 1999 - 05:00 UT
Launch site B, LC-108
Launch vehicle  Dnepr-1 (#1)
MissionTelecommunications and Remote sensing
Intermediate LEO orbit:
Perigee / Apogee 647 x 653 km
Eccentricity 4.27E-04
Inclination 64.5 deg
Period 97.72 min

Note: there is a confusion about the object number. At launch 25694 reflected the actual satellite.

Specifications

Prime contractor SSTL (Surrey Satellite Technologies Ltd.) UK
Platform new SSTL platform
Mass at launch 325 kg
Mass in orbit  
Dimension  
Solar array  
Stabilization  
DC power  300 W
Design lifetime  2-3 yrs

UoSAT-12 carries a number of imaging payloads (Earth Imaging System;up to 10 meter resolution). It carries a propulsion system for orbital housekeeping experiments. The S-band downlink can run at speeds up to 1Mb/s for downloading imaging data.

Equipped with 2 cameras (10 m resolution panchromatic, 40 m multispectral). CCDs are from Eastman Kodak. Also has a colour wide angle camera.

telemetry: 437.400 MHz

UoSAT-12 carries a newly developed Space GPS receiver, the SGR, that is designed to provide an experimental testbed for orbit and attitude determination. It has 5 antennas to accurately calculate the spacecraft attitude through applying interferometry techniques to the phase difference measurements.

Resistojet is a new propulsion technology on-board. Nitrous oxide is heated by an electrical element powered by the spacecraft's batteries. The thrust from the Resistojet can be used to adjust the spacecraft's orbit. A 60-minute Resistojet firing period will raise the 650km orbit of the spacecraft by 3km. UoSAT-12 carries 2.5kg of nitrous oxide, sufficient for 14 hours running, in an expulsion system developed for Surrey in collaboration with Polyflex Aerospace of Cheltenham, UK.

Merlion payload

For use of the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Aim is to help develop a future LEO equatorial amateur radio system. The payload consist of an L-band receive and S-band transmit transponder. Uplink: 1265 MHz, Downlink: 2420 MHz Output power: 7 W

Comments:

Used for email and communication services to remote areas.

Ref: #15, #226 - update: 28.11.09