Please make a donation to support Gunter's Space Page.
Thank you very much for visiting Gunter's Space Page. I hope that this site is useful and informative for you.
If you appreciate the information provided on this site, please consider supporting my work by making a simple and secure donation via PayPal. Please help to run the website and keep everything free of charge. Thank you very much.

Tubsat A

Tubsat A [TUB]

TUBSAT-A (Technische Universität Berlin Satellit A) is a cube of 38 cm side length and a mass of 35 kg. It was launched on June, 17th 1991 on the Ariane ASAP structure from Kourou together with ERS 1 and three other microsatellites. Its sun synchronous orbit has an altitude of 780 km and an inclination of 98°.

The mission of TUBSAT-A is mostly technology demonstration. Experimental solar cells provide part of the energy needed, but standard cells are used on four sides of the cube. On the top you can see two L-Band patch antennas of the satellite which are also experimental. A transputer chip (Kayser-Threde) is also tested for space environment qualification.

For the development of the next satellites a star sensor as well as a coil are flown. In operation the most used feature, after doing the planned technology demonstration experiments, is store and forward communications with handheld ground stations. Several Arctic and Antarctic expeditions were equipped with these devices and used them extensivly.

After more than 9 years in orbit, the satellite was still complete operational.

TUBSAT A was developed and built by the Institut für Luft- und Raumfahrttechnik at the TU-Berlin.

Nation: Germany
Type / Application: Technology
Operator: TU Berlin
Contractors: TU Berlin
Equipment:
Configuration:
Propulsion:
Power: Solar cells, batteries
Lifetime:
Mass: 35 kg
Orbit: 765 km × 777 km, 98.54°
Satellite COSPAR Date LS Launch Vehicle Remarks
Tubsat A 1991-050D 17.07.1991 Ko ELA-2 Ariane-40 H10 with ERS 1, SARA, Orbcomm X, UoSAT 5

References:

Cite this page: