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RAAF M1

RAAF M1 [UNSW]

RAAF M1 is an Australian 3U-CubeSat designed and built by University of New South Wales for the Australian Defence Force Academy, Royal Australian Air Force.

RAAF M1 will be a flight demonstration of several key technologies and operations for the main mission. M1 aims to:

  • Deliver to the RAAF AIS / ADS-B capability across the globe using COTS AIS and ADS-B systems.
  • Test, validate and further develop Australian SSA capabilities by providing engineering design and performance data for the design of future passive radar systems to track LEO spacecraft.
  • Develop and demonstrate software defined radio capability, which is used to support AIS and ADS-B monitoring and recording and GNSS SDR receive capability for passive LEO tacking.
  • Develop and demonstrate building-block technologies and CONOPS for future ADF space capabilities.
  • Build ADF expertise in specifying, developing/procuring and operating sovereign space assets.

The RAAF M1 spacecraft is a 3U Cubesat form factor with a nadir facing deployable payload module and two deployable solar arrays. As well as monitoring and recording AIS and ADS-B signals from maritime traffic and aircraft, the mission will demonstrate a number of new developments; bespoke mechanical design supporting a large deployable model, a custom UNSW Canberra flight computer, custom deployable antennae and custom software defined radio receivers. The programme demonstrates that a system such as this can be developed under a rapid design and development programme.

The satellite was launched on Spaceflight Industry's SSO-A multi-satellite launch on a Falcon-9 v1.2 (Block 5) rocket. It failed to communicate after deployment.

Nation: Australia
Type / Application: Technology
Operator: Australian Defence Force Academy, Royal Australian Air Force
Contractors: University of New South Wales
Equipment: AIS-receiver, ADS-B receiver, Software-Defined Radio
Configuration: CubeSat (3U)
Propulsion: None
Power: Solar cells, batteries
Lifetime:
Mass: 4 kg
Orbit:
Satellite COSPAR Date LS Launch Vehicle Remarks
RAAF M1 2018-099X ? 03.12.2018 Va SLC-4E Falcon-9 v1.2 (Block 5) with SkySat 14, 15, Eu:CROPIS, STPSat 5, FalconSat 6, NEXTSat 1, KazSTSAT, eXCITe, SeeMe, ICEYE X2, BlackSky 2, ESEO, Hawk A, B, C, Capella 1, AISTECHSAT 2, CSIM-FD, Hiber 2, ITASAT 1, Landmapper-BC 4, ORS 7A, 7B, Al-Farabi 2, Astrocast 0.1, Audacy 0, BRIO, Centauri 1, Eaglet 1, Enoch, Flock-3s 1, 2, 3, K2SAT, KazSciSat 1, MinXSS 2, Orbital Reflector, SeaHawk 1, SNUSAT 2, THEA, VESTA, PW-Sat 2, SNUGLITE, VisionCube, RANGE A, B, Elysium-Star 2, ExseedSat 1, Fox 1C, Irvine 02, JY1-Sat, KNACKSAT, MOVE 2, SpaceBEE 5, 6, 7, Suomi-100, WeissSat 1, Sirion Pathfinder 2, OrbWeaver 1, 2, SPAWAR-CAL O, OR, R
Further RAAF missions:

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