Taifa 1

Taifa 1 [Kenya Space Agency]

Taifa 1 is Kenya's first operational earth observation satellite. The 3U CubeSat has an optical camera that takes pictures in multispectral and panchromatic modes at the same time, allowing it to operate within and beyond the visible light spectrum. The satellite is the first in a planned constellation of small earth observation satellites, with future systems expected to be more capable. observation satellites, with future systems expected to be more capable.

Taifa-1's payload is an optical camera with a ground sampling distance (GSD) of 32 meters and a panchromatic band with a GSD of 16 meters. The two types of images collaborate to produce higher quality images known as pan-sharpened images, which are a hybrid of the two modes.

The satellite bus houses the remaining subsystems that allow the payload to function optimally in order to meet the mission objectives. Electrical power, communication, structures and mechanisms, on-board computing, attitude determination and control, and thermal control subsystems are among them.

Both the payload and the satellite bus have on-board mass storage systems that allow images to be temporarily stored on-board before the satellite can access the ground station ad download them.

• Silicon cell solar panel
• Telemetry Electronic Board
• 3-DOF attitude control system, using a momentum wheel

The mission profile includes two basic nominal operation phases. In the first, data about the experimental on-board system performance are gathered by transmitting to ground the system telemetry data. This phase is mainly devoted to assessing the performance in orbit of the in-house developed solar panel. After deployment, the CubeSat turns on and starts transmitting a Beacon signal, containing telemetry data taken once per minute. This beacon transmission is useful for first acquisition by the ground station. At the same time a de-tumbling procedure is activated, in which the satellite residual motion is damped out. When this nominal configuration is achieved and reliable communication to ground have been established, the CubeSat starts its nominal mode based on a passive magnetic attitude stabilization: beacon is stopped with a specific command and the satellite is in stand-by mode, waiting for commands. Telemetry is stored on-board and downloaded to ground upon command to verify the health-status and performance. If all these operations are well executed it’s possible to consider the minimum mission goal is achieved. The second nominal operation mode, activated by specific command from ground, is devoted to taking a picture and sending it to ground and momentum wheel testing. If these two activities are correctly executed, the mission is considered completely successful.

1KUNS-PF has been selected by the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) to benefit from the opportunity to be launched by the Japanese Kibo module in the International Space Station (ISS), as part of the KiboCUBE program.