Kosmos 3M Launches Three Satellites

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Kosmos 3M Launches Three Satellites

More Information:

A Kosmos 3M launched three satellites from Plesetsk Cosmodrome launch complex number 132 at 3:37 a.m. PDT (1037 UTC) June 28. The primary satellite is the Russian Nadezhda 6/COSPAS navigation satellite. The 825 kg (1818 lbm) satellite built by AKO Polyot was deployed into a 650 km (400 mile) sun synchronous orbit. Two co-passenger satellites were also deployed. SNAP 1 is a 6.5 kg (14 lbm) Surrey Nanosatellite Applications Platform (SNAP), outfitted with GPS navigation, computing, propulsion and attitude control capabilities was built by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL), Surrey, United Kingdom. Its primary mission is to rendezvous with the other co-passenger Tsinghua 1. The 49 kg (107 lbm) Tsinghua 1 was also built by SSTL for Beijing’s Tsinghua University. Tsinghua-1 will conduct communications research in low Earth orbit.

The Nadezhda 6/COSPAS satellite carries a transponder for the international COSPAS-SARSAT system. COSPAS-SARSAT is an international, humanitarian search and rescue system that uses satellites to detect and locate emergency beacons carried by ships, aircraft, or individuals. COSPAS-SARSAT has helped save over 10,600 lives (as of November 1999) worldwide since its inception in 1982. COSPAS is the Russian abbreviation of Cosmicheskaya Sistyema Poiska Avariynich Sudov, which means “Space system for the search of vessels in distress.”

SNAP-1’s primary payload is a machine vision system (MVS) which will enable the inspection of other spacecraft in orbit. The MVS consists of three ultra-miniature wide-angle CMOS video cameras and one narrow-angle CMOS video camera, together with sophisticated image processing electronics. The MVS will also be used to provide medium resolution images of the Earth from SNAP-1’s 650km altitude, near-polar orbit. The near infra-red filter in the narrow angle camera provides good discrimination between land, sea and clouds and allows the camera to produce clear images through the otherwise hazy atmosphere at 500m ground resolution. Using its miniature propulsion, navigation and inter-satellite link systems, SNAP-1 will attempt to rendezvous in orbit with its companion spacecraft, Tsinghua-1. SNAP-1 was designed and built by SSTL with its own funds in under one year and at an overall mission cost, including development, launch and commissioning, of less then US$1.5 million.

Tsinghua-1 is the first demonstrator for the Disaster Monitoring Constellation and carries multi-spectral Earth imaging cameras providing 39-meter nadir ground resolution in 3 spectral bands. The Disaster Monitoring Constellation, being led by Surrey for launch in early 2002, will comprise five microsatellites able to provide daily world-wide high resolution imaging for the monitoring and mitigation of natural and man-made disasters. The Chinese Tsinghua-1 satellite will also carry out research in low Earth orbit using digital store-and-forward communications, a digital signal processing (DSP) experiment, a Surrey-built GPS space receiver and a new 3-axis microsatellite attitude control experiment. Tsinghua-1 utilize three reaction wheels to provide full 3-axis agility on a microsatellite platform. Ten engineers and scientists from Tsinghua University have spent 12 months during 1998-99 at the Surrey Space Center - working alongside SSTL engineers on the design, construction and test of the advanced microsatellite.

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June 28, 2000