SumbandilaSat


SumbandilaSat, is a South African micro earth observation satellite, launched on 17 September 2009 on a Soyuz-2 launch vehicle from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The first part of the name, Sumbandila, is from the Venda language and means "lead the way".
The University of Stellenbosch, and the CSIR were key players in constructing SumbandilaSat. The CSIR's Satellite Application Centre was responsible for operations, telemetry, tracking, control as well as data capturing.
SumbandilaSat is part of a closely integrated South African space programme and will serve as a research tool to investigate the viability of affordable space technology. Furthermore, the data will be used to, amongst others, monitor and manage disasters such as flooding, oil spills and fires within Southern Africa.
In June 2011 the satellite was damaged during a solar storm. The damage caused the on-board computer and the camera to stop functioning. This has caused it to stop fulfilling its primary objective and has been written off as a loss by SunSpace, its builder.

Launch site

The launch site at the Baikonur Cosmodrome is known as LC-31/6, and can be found in at the following coordinates:

Satellite specifications

* Courtesy of SunSpace

On-board experiments

It has a number of secondary experimental payloads on board: