AlSat 1 [SSTL]
AlSat 1 (Algerian Satellite), a 90 kg enhanced microsatellite is Algeria's first national satellite and has been designed and constructed by SSTL at the Surrey Space Centre (UK) within a collaborative programme with the Algerian Centre National des Techniques Spatiales (CNTS).
AlSat 1 is part of a wider international collaboration to launch the first constellation of Earth observation satellites specifically designed for disaster monitoring. The AlSat 1 enhanced microsatellite carries specially-designed Earth imaging cameras which provide 32-meters resolution imaging in 3 spectral bands (NIR, red, green) with an extremely wide imaging swath of 600 km on the ground that enables a revisit of the same area anywhere in the world at least every 4 days with just a single satellite. AlSat 1 is the first satellite in the Surrey-led Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) which will comprises 5 microsatellites in low Earth orbit by the end of 2003.
A joint British-Algerian team of SSTL & CNTS engineers successfully completed the manufacture and pre-flight testing of the enhanced microsatellite during a 15-month programme which included know-how training for the 11 Algerian engineers and scientists at SSTL in England. A mission control ground station has also been installed by SSTL at CNTS in Algeria and engineers are carrying out final checks there in readiness for the launch.
In mid-2003, following the validation of AlSat 1 in orbit after launch, a further 4 microsatellites were launched into the same orbit as AlSat 1 to complete the DMC constellation and provide a daily imaging revisit capability worldwide. SSTL is building these microsatellites in collaboration with Nigeria, Turkey & the UK.
Nation: | Algeria |
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Type / Application: | Earth observation |
Operator: | Algerian Centre National des Techniques Spatiales (CNTS) → Agence Spatiale Algérienne (ASAL) |
Contractors: | SSTL |
Equipment: | 32-meter resolution imager in 3 spectral bands |
Configuration: | Microsat-100 |
Propulsion: | Resistojets |
Power: | Solar cells, batteries |
Lifetime: | |
Mass: | 90 kg |
Orbit: | 681 × 742 km, 98.2° |
Satellite | COSPAR | Date | LS | Launch Vehicle | Remarks | |
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AlSat 1 | 2002-054A | 28.11.2002 | Pl LC-132/1 | Kosmos-3M | with Mozhayets 3, Rubin 3-DSI |
Further AlSat missions:
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