Detailed Description
UoSAT-12 carried a number of imaging payloads (Earth Imaging System;up to 10 meter resolution). It carried a propulsion system for orbital housekeeping experiments. The S-band downlink can run at speeds up to 1Mb/s for downloading imaging data.
Equipped with 2 cameras (10 m resolution panchromatic, 40 m multispectral). CCDs are from Eastman Kodak. Also has a colour wide angle camera.
UoSAT-12 carried a newly developed Space GPS receiver, the SGR, that was designed to provide an experimental testbed for orbit and attitude determination. It had 5 antennas to accurately calculate the spacecraft attitude through applying interferometry techniques to the phase difference measurements.
Resistojet was a new propulsion technology on-board UoSat-12. Nitrous oxide is heated by an electrical element powered by the spacecraft's batteries. The thrust from the Resistojet can be used to adjust the spacecraft's orbit. A 60-minute Resistojet firing period will raise the 650km orbit of the spacecraft by 3km. UoSAT-12 carries 2.5kg of nitrous oxide, sufficient for 14 hours running, in an expulsion system developed for Surrey in collaboration with Polyflex Aerospace of Cheltenham, UK.
NASA demonstrated on UO-36 the ability to use standard Internet protocols to communicate with an orbiting spacecraft (just like any node on the Internet). NASA developed this project working with the commercial payload onboard UoSAT-12.
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