Abstract On 28 June 2000 the UK’s first nano-satellite, SNAP-1, was launched from Plesetsk on a Cosmos launch vehicle, together with a Russian COSPAS-SARSAT satellite called Nadezhda. An SSTL-built Chinese micro-satellite, Tsinghua-1, was also flown. The main mission objective of SNAP-1 was to demonstrate that a sophisticated, fully agile nano-satellite could be constructed rapidly, and at very low cost, using an extension of the modular-COTS-based design philosophy pioneered by SSTL for its micro-satellites. The SNAP-1 mission has been highly successful, becoming the first nano-satellite (i.e. sub-10kg satellite) to have demonstrated full attitude and orbit control via its miniature momentum-wheel-based attitude control system and its butane-propellantbased propulsion system. This paper discusses Surrey’s design philosophy for nano-satellites, and describes the architecture of the SNAP-1 vehicle in this context. The initial results of SNAP-1’s mission are reviewed, and future exploitation plans discussed.
SNAP-1: Design, Construction, Launch and Early Operations Phase Results of a Modular COTS-Based Nano-satellite
2002-01-01
9 pages
Article/Chapter (Book)
Electronic Resource
English
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