ÑuSat
ÑuSat satellite series, is a series of Argentinean commercial Earth observation satellites. They form the Aleph-1 constellation, which is designed, built and operated by Satellogic.
Overview
Satellites design
The satellites in the constellation are identical 51 cm × 57 cm × 82 cm spacecraft of mass. The satellites are equipped with an imaging system operating in visible light and infrared. The constellation will allow for commercially available real-time Earth imaging and video with a ground resolution of. The satellite were developed based on the experience gained on the BugSat 1 prototype satellite.BugSat 1
The BugSat 1 was a technology demonstration mission for the NuSat-satellites. It was launched 19.06.2014 by a Russian Dnepr rocket. It was a microsat weighing 22 kg with outer dimensions of 275 × 500 × 500 mm. It also carried amateur radio capabilities.Missions
The Aleph-1 constellation will consist of up to 25 satellites.The first two satellites will be launched as piggy-back payloads on a Chinese CZ-4B rocket in May 2016 from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center into a 500 km sun synchronous orbit with an inclination of 97.5°. Four more were planned to follow later in 2016.
The third satellite was launched as a piggy-back payload on CZ-4B rocket in June 2017.
The fourth and fifth satellites were launched as piggy-backs on a CZ-2D rocket in February 2018.
Satellites number seven and eight were launched as piggy-backs on a CZ-2D rocket in January 2020.
Ground communications
An U/V transponder with 2 W of output power for 8 GHz downlink and 2 GHz uplink will be operating on 100 kHz bandwidth.LabOSat / MeMOSat payloads
, developed by the LabOSat Group, designed and built by a group of scientists at the National Atomic Energy Commission, the National Institute of Industrial Technology, the National University of San Martin and National Scientific and Technical Research Council.This memory was specially designed to operate in harsh environments and adverse conditions, such as the strong radiation it must withstand in space. Its main objective is to test electronic components that will be commercialized in the future.
To do this, the memory is made up of two metallic films with an oxide between about 20 nm thick, with electrical resistance properties, that can send information from the satellites, allowing to study their behavior in these hostile environments.
AMSAT payload
Additionally, ÑuSat-1 carries a U/V linear transponder called LUSEX provided by AMSAT Argentina to offer services to the HAM community.List of satellites
Although the satellites are officially named "ÑuSat", each satellite has a nickname, a tradition from Satellogic that dates back since its very first satellite Capitan Beto.| Name | Nickname | COSPAR | In homage to | Launch date | Launch vehicle | Outcome | Notes |
| ÑuSat 1 | Fresco | 2016-033B | Queso blanco | May 30, 2016 | CZ-4B | Success | First commercial small satellite from Argentina |
| Batata | Dulce de batata | May 30, 2016 | CZ-4B | Success | First commercial small satellite from Argentina | ||
| ÑuSat 3 | Milanesat | 2017-034C | Milanesa | June 15, 2017 | CZ-4B | Success | Nickname proposed by a Reddit user |
| ÑuSat 4 | Ada | 2018-015D | Ada Lovelace | February 2, 2018 | CZ-2D | Success | |
| ÑuSat 5 | Maryam | 2018-015K | Maryam Mirzakhani | February 2, 2018 | CZ-2D | Success | |
| ÑuSat 6 | Hypatia | Hypatia | 2020 | ||||
| ÑuSat 7 | Sophie | 2020-003B | Sophie Germain | 15 January 2020 | CZ-2D | Success | |
| ÑuSat 8 | Marie | 2020-003C | Marie Curie | 15 January 2020 | CZ-2D | Success |