PoSAT-1 (OSAT-OSCAR 28, OSCAR 28, PO 28, 1993-061G), the first Portuguese

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

, 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 September 1993, on the 59th flight of the

Ariane 4 The Ariane 4 was a European expendable rocket, expendable launch vehicle in the Ariane (rocket family), Ariane family, developed by the (CNES), the Government of France, French space agency, for the European Space Agency (ESA). The manufacturi ...

launch vehicle A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistage ...

. The launch took place in the

Centre Spatial Guyanais The Guiana Space Centre (; CSG), also called Europe's Spaceport, is a spaceport to the northwest of Kourou in French Guiana, an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas region of France in South America. Kourou is located approxim ...

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

. About 20 minutes and 35 seconds after launch, at an altitude of 807 km, PoSAT-1 separated itself from the launch vehicle. The PoSAT-1 weighs about 12 kg and belongs to the class of

microsatellites A microsatellite is a tract of repetitive DNA in which certain 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 organism's genome. T ...

, which are between 10 and 100 kg. The entire project was developed by a consortium of universities and companies in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

and was built at the

University of Surrey The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The university received its Royal Charter, royal charter in 1966, along with a Plate glass university, number of other institutions following recommendations ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The total cost was around €5 million, about €3 million paid by the Portuguese Government and €2 million by the Portuguese companies involved (Po-SAT consortium: Instituto Nacional de Engenharia, Tecnologia e Inovação (INETI),

EFACEC EFACEC Power Solutions SGPS, S.A. is a Portuguese energy, engineering and mobility company, comprising several subsidiaries in different international markets. Efacec group is one of the largest manufacturers in the fast-charging infrastructure ...

ALCATEL Alcatel SA was a French industrial conglomerate active between 1963 and 2006. It has roots to ''Compagnie Générale d’Electricité'' (CGE), a conglomerate founded in 1898 as an early state owned cable and telephone equipment company that lat ...

Marconi Company The Marconi Company was a British telecommunications and engineering company founded by Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi in 1897 which was a pioneer of wireless long distance communication and mass media broadcasting, eventually becoming on ...

OGMA Ogma () is a god from Irish mythology, Irish and Scottish mythology. A member of the Tuatha Dé Danann, he is often considered a deity and may be related to the Gauls, Gallic god Ogmios. According to the In Lebor Ogaim, Ogam Tract, he is the i ...

Instituto Superior Técnico The Instituto Superior Técnico (IST, also known as Técnico, and stylized TÉCNICO LISBOA; English: ) is the school of engineering and technology of the University of Lisbon. It was founded as an autonomous school in 1911, and was integrated in ...

(IST), University of Beira Interior (UBI) and CEDINTEC). The responsible for the project was Fernando Carvalho Rodrigues, known as the father of the first Portuguese satellite.

Mission

The mission was called Flight 59, which launched several satellites: PoSAT-1 from Portugal,

Eyesat-1 Eyesat-A was launched on September 26, 1993 using an Ariane 4 rocket at Guiana Space Centre, Kourou, French Guiana, along with SPOT-3, Stella (satellite), Stella, Healthsat-2, KITSAT-2, and PoSAT-1. References

{{Orbital launches in 1993 Sat ...

and ItamSat from

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

KITSAT-2 KITSAT-2 (Pseudonym, a.k.a. ''"Uribyol 2", "KITSAT-OSCAR 25", "KO-25" and "KITSAT-B"'') was a South Korean experimental Earth observation satellite, Earth observation Small satellite, microsatellite. KITSAT-2 was South Korea's second satellite ...

from

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

, HealthSat-2 (an international medical satellite) and Stella and

SPOT-3 SPOT (, lit. "Satellite for observation of Earth") is a commercial high-resolution optical Earth observation satellite system operating from space. It is run by Spot Image, based in Toulouse, France. It was initiated by the CNES (''Centre na ...

from

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, the latter one a large satellite for Earth imaging photography.

Spacecraft

The PoSAT-1 is a box of

aluminum Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

, in the form of a

parallelepiped In geometry, a parallelepiped is a three-dimensional figure formed by six parallelograms (the term ''rhomboid'' is also sometimes used with this meaning). By analogy, it relates to a parallelogram just as a cube relates to a square. Three equiva ...

, 58 cm long, 35 cm wide, 35 cm depth and weighs 12 kg. Over a first drawer that contains the batteries and the remote detection module are stacked 10 other drawers full of electronic cards. At the top of the satellite there are sensors for attitude and the stabilization mast, essential tools for PoSAT-1 to maintain correct orbit. Four

solar panels 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 ...

are mounted on the lateral sides of the structure of the satellite, forming a parallelepiped, which are the source of

energy Energy () is the physical quantity, quantitative physical property, property that is transferred to a physical body, body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of Work (thermodynamics), work and in the form of heat and l ...

for all on-board systems. Each panel contains 1344 cells of

Gallium arsenide Gallium arsenide (GaAs) is a III-V direct band gap semiconductor with a Zincblende (crystal structure), zinc blende crystal structure. Gallium arsenide is used in the manufacture of devices such as microwave frequency integrated circuits, monoli ...

(GaAs).

Numbers

* Speed: 7.3 km per second. * Orbit: 822 x 800 km, inclination of 98.6°,

Sun-synchronous orbit A Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), also called a heliosynchronous orbit, is a nearly polar orbit around a planet, in which the satellite passes over any given point of the planet's surface at the same local mean solar time. More technically, it is ...

, lasts 101 minutes, revolves around the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

around 14 times per day.

End of mission

PoSAT-1 stopped transmitting information to Earth in 2006. Its

re-entry Atmospheric entry (sometimes listed as Vimpact or Ventry) is the movement of an object from outer space into and through the gases of an atmosphere of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. Atmospheric entry may be ''uncontrolled entry ...

is expected to be happen in 2043.

References

{{Orbital launches in 1993 Space program of Portugal Satellites orbiting Earth Portuguese inventions First artificial satellites of a country Spacecraft launched in 1993 Amateur radio satellites Derelict satellites orbiting Earth

Mission

Spacecraft

Numbers

End of mission

See also

References