DLR-Tubsat ( a.k.a. ''TUBSAT'') was a German

remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an physical object, object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring inform ...

microsatellite A microsatellite is a tract of repetitive DNA in which certain Sequence motif, DNA motifs (ranging in length from one to six or more base pairs) are repeated, typically 5–50 times. Microsatellites occur at thousands of locations within an organ ...

, developed in a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

between

Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin; also known as Berlin Institute of Technology and Technical University of Berlin, although officially the name should not be translated) is a public university, public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was the first ...

(TUB) and

German Aerospace Center The German Aerospace Center (, abbreviated DLR, literally ''German Center for Air- and Space-flight'') is the national center for aerospace, energy and transportation research of Germany, founded in 1969. It is headquartered in Cologne with 3 ...

(DLR). TU Berlin was responsible for the satellite bus and DLR was responsible for the payload. The satellite was launched into

orbit In celestial mechanics, an orbit (also known as orbital revolution) is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an ...

on 26 May 1999, on the fifth mission of the

PSLV The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is an expendable medium-lift launch vehicle designed and operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It was developed to allow India to launch its Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellite ...

program PSLV-C2. The launch took place in the Sriharikota Launching Range. The satellite had an expected life of one year.

Mission objectives

The prime objective of DLR-Tubsat was to test the

attitude control Spacecraft attitude control is the process of controlling the orientation of a spacecraft (vehicle or satellite) with respect to an inertial frame of reference or another entity such as the celestial sphere, certain fields, and nearby objects, ...

system (S/C attitude recovery from hibernation). The secondary objective of the mission was to test a TV camera system for disaster monitoring with the goal of the introduction of an interactive Earth observation concept, where the target is not identified in advance, a search action may be involved, or a particular target region has to be followed visually from orbit.

Specifications

* Dimension: 32 x 32 x 32 cm * Launch mass: *

Solar panel A solar panel is a device that converts sunlight into electricity by using photovoltaic (PV) cells. PV cells are made of materials that produce excited electrons when exposed to light. These electrons flow through a circuit and produce direct ...

: Four * Batteries: Four NiH2 *

Video camera A video camera is an optical instrument that captures videos, as opposed to a movie camera, which records images on film. Video cameras were initially developed for the television industry but have since become widely used for a variety of other ...

: Three CCD ** 16 mm wide-angle camera with black-and-white chip ** 50 mm standard-angle camera with color CCD chip ** 1000 mm

telephoto lens A telephoto lens, also known as telelens, is a specific type of a long-focus lens used in photography and cinematography, in which the physical length of the lens is shorter than the focal length. This is achieved by incorporating a special lens ...

camera with black-and-white chip *

Attitude control system Spacecraft attitude control is the process of controlling the orientation of a spacecraft (vehicle or satellite) with respect to an inertial frame of reference or another entity such as the celestial sphere, certain fields, and nearby objects, ...

: Three wheel / gyro pairs * Reaction wheels: Three * Laser gyro: Three * VHF / UHF TT & C system *

S band The S band is a designation by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for a part of the microwave band of the electromagnetic spectrum covering frequencies from 2 to 4 gigahertz (GHz). Thus it crosses the conventiona ...

transmitter and antenna

References

{{Reflist, colwidth=30em Satellites orbiting Earth Satellites of Germany Spacecraft launched in 1999 Spacecraft launched by PSLV rockets

Mission objectives

Specifications

See also

References