ÑuSat satellite series (Spanish: ÑuSat, sometimes translated into English as NewSat), is a series of Argentinean commercial Earth observation satellites. They form the Aleph-1 constellation, which is designed, built and operated by Satellogic.

ÑuSat
Mission typeCommercial Earth observation
OperatorSatellogic S.A.
Websitewww.satellogic.com
Mission duration3 years (planned)
Spacecraft properties
BusSmall Satellite
ManufacturerSatellogic
Launch mass38.5 kg (85 lb)
41 kg (ÑuSat 9-18)
Start of mission
Launch date30 May 2016 UTC (1st, 2nd)
15 June 2017 (3rd)
2 February 2018 (4th, 5th)
15 January 2020 (7th, 8th)
2 September 2020 (6th)
6 November 2020 UTC (9th-18th)
30 June 2021 (19th-22nd)
1 April 2022 (23rd-27th)
25 May 2022 (28th-31st)
3 January 2023 (32nd-35th)
15 April 2023 (36th-39th)
12 June 2023 (40th-43rd)
RocketLong March 4B, Long March 2D, Vega, Long March 6, Falcon 9 Block 5
Launch siteTaiyuan, Jiuquan, Kourou, Cape Canaveral

Overview

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Satellites design

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The satellites in the constellation are identical 51 × 57 × 82 cm spacecraft of 38.5 kg (85 lb) mass. The satellites are equipped with an imaging system operating in visible light and infrared. The constellation will allow for commercially available real-time Earth imaging and video with a ground resolution of 1 m (3 ft 3 in). The satellites were developed based on the experience gained on the BugSat 1 prototype satellite.

BugSat 1

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The BugSat 1 (nickname Tita) was a technology demonstration mission for the ÑuSat satellites. It was launched on 19 June 2014 by a Russian Dnepr rocket. It was a microsatellite weighing 22 kg with outer dimensions of 27.5 × 50 × 50 cm. It also carried amateur radio capabilities.

Missions

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The Aleph-1 constellation will consist of more than 300 satellites. The first two satellites were launched as piggy-back payloads on a Chinese Long March 4B rocket in May 2016 from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center into a 500 km Sun-synchronous orbit with an inclination of 97.5°. The third satellite was launched as a piggy-back payload on a Long March 4B launch vehicle in June 2017. The fourth and fifth satellites were launched as piggy-backs on a Long March 2D rocket in February 2018. The sixth satellite was launched on a rideshare mission on a Vega rocket in September 2020. Satellites number seven and eight were launched as piggy-backs on a Long March 2D rocket in January 2020. Satellites number 9-18 were launched on a Long March 6 launch vehicle on 6 November 2020.

Ground communications

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An U/V transponder with 2 watts of output power for 8 GHz downlink and 2 GHz uplink will be operating on 100 kHz bandwidth.

LabOSat / MeMOSat payloads

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MeMOSat, developed by the LabOSat Group, designed and built by a group of scientists at the National Atomic Energy Commission (Spanish: Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica (CNEA)), the National Institute of Industrial Technology (Spanish: Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Industrial (INTI)), the National University of General San Martín (Spanish: Universidad Nacional de San Martín (UNSAM)) and National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET).

This memory was specially designed to operate in harsh environments and adverse conditions, such as the strong radiation it must withstand in space. Its main objective is to test electronic components that will be commercialized in the future. To do this, the memory is made up of two metallic films with an oxide between about 20 nm thick, with electrical resistance properties, that can send information from the satellites, allowing to study their behavior in these hostile environments.

AMSAT payload

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Additionally, ÑuSat-1 carries a U/V linear transponder called LUSEX provided by AMSAT Argentina (AMSAT-LU) to offer services to the HAM community.

List of satellites

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Although the satellites are officially named "ÑuSat", each satellite has a nickname, a tradition from Satellogic that dates back since its very first satellite Fresco.

Name [1] Nickname COSPAR In homage to Launch date Launch vehicle Outcome Remarks
ÑuSat 1 (Aleph-1 1,
Lusat-OSCAR 87, LO 87)
Fresco 2016-033B Queso fresco (Alongside Batata, they make the traditional Argentinian dessert "Fresco y Batata") 30 May 2016 Long March 4B Success First commercial small satellite from Argentina.
ÑuSat 2 (Aleph-1 2) Batata 2016-033C Dulce de batata (Alongside Fresco, they make the traditional Argentinian dessert "Fresco y Batata") 30 May 2016 Long March 4B Success First commercial small satellite from Argentina.
ÑuSat 3 (Aleph-1 3) Milanesat 2017-034C Milanesa 15 June 2017 Long March 4B Success Nickname proposed by a Reddit user [2]
ÑuSat 4 (Aleph-1 4) Ada [3] 2018-015D Ada Lovelace[4] 2 February 2018 [5][6] Long March 2D Success [7]
ÑuSat 5 (Aleph-1 5) Maryam [3] 2018-015K Maryam Mirzakhani[4] 2 February 2018 [5][6] Long March 2D Success [7]
ÑuSat 6 (Aleph-1 6) Hypatia [8] 2020-061A Hypatia 3 September 2020 Vega Success [9]
ÑuSat 7 (Aleph-1 7) Sophie [10] 2020-003B Sophie Germain 15 January 2020 Long March 2D Success [11]
ÑuSat 8 (Aleph-1 8) Marie [10] 2020-003C Marie Curie 15 January 2020 Long March 2D Success [11]
ÑuSat 9 (Aleph-1 9) Alice [12] 2020-079A Alice Ball[13] 6 November 2020,
03:19 UTC
Long March 6 Success
ÑuSat 10 (Aleph-1 10) Caroline [12] 2020-079B Caroline Herschel[13] 6 November 2020,
03:19 UTC
Long March 6 Success
ÑuSat 11 (Aleph-1 11) Cora [12] 2020-079C Cora Ratto[13] 6 November 2020,
03:19 UTC
Long March 6 Success
ÑuSat 12 (Aleph-1 12) Dorothy [12] 2020-079D Dorothy Vaughan[13] 6 November 2020,
03:19 UTC
Long March 6 Success
ÑuSat 13 (Aleph-1 13) Emmy [12] 2020-079E Emmy Noether[13] 6 November 2020,
03:19 UTC
Long March 6 Success
ÑuSat 14 (Aleph-1 14) Hedy [12] 2020-079F Hedy Lamarr[13] 6 November 2020,
03:19 UTC
Long March 6 Success
ÑuSat 15 (Aleph-1 15) Katherine [12] 2020-079G Katherine Johnson[13] 6 November 2020,
03:19 UTC
Long March 6 Success
ÑuSat 16 (Aleph-1 16) Lise [12] 2020-079H Lise Meitner[13] 6 November 2020,
03:19 UTC
Long March 6 Success
ÑuSat 17 (Aleph-1 17) Mary [12] 2020-079J Mary Jackson[13] 6 November 2020,
03:19 UTC
Long March 6 Success
ÑuSat 18 (Aleph-1 18) Vera [12] 2020-079K Vera Rubin[13] 6 November 2020,
03:19 UTC
Long March 6 Success
ÑuSat 19 (Aleph-1 19) Rosalind [14] 2021-059AC Rosalind Franklin[14] 30 June 2021,
19:31 UTC
Falcon 9 Block 5 Success
ÑuSat 20 (Aleph-1 20) Grace [14] 2021-059AU Grace Hopper[14] 30 June 2021,
19:31 UTC
Falcon 9 Block 5 Success Decayed on 11 November 2023.
ÑuSat 21 (Aleph-1 21) Elisa [14] 2021-059AT Elisa Bachofen[14] 30 June 2021,
19:31 UTC
Falcon 9 Block 5 Success Decayed on 26 October 2023.
ÑuSat 22 (Aleph-1 22) Sofya [14] 2021-059AS Sofya Kovalevskaya[14] 30 June 2021,
19:31 UTC
Falcon 9 Block 5 Success
ÑuSat 23 (Aleph-1 23) Annie Maunder [15] 2022-033M Annie Maunder[15] 1 April 2022,
16:24 UTC
Falcon 9 Block 5 Success
ÑuSat 24 (Aleph-1 25) Kalpana Chawla [15] 2022-033X Kalpana Chawla[15] 1 April 2022,
16:24 UTC
Falcon 9 Block 5 Success
ÑuSat 25 (Aleph-1 25) Maria Telkes [15] 2022-033Q Maria Telkes[15] 1 April 2022,
16:24 UTC
Falcon 9 Block 5 Success
ÑuSat 26 (Aleph-1 26) Mary Somerville [15] 2022-033 Mary Somerville[15] 1 April 2022,
16:24 UTC
Falcon 9 Block 5 Success
ÑuSat 27 (Aleph-1 27) Sally Ride [15] 2022-033R Sally Ride[15] 1 April 2022,
16:24 UTC
Falcon 9 Block 5 Success
ÑuSat-28 (Aleph-1 28) Alice Lee[16] 2022-057R Alice Lee 25 May 2022,
18:35 UTC
Falcon 9 Block 5 Success
ÑuSat-29 (Aleph-1 29) Edith Clarke[16] 2022-057AJ Edith Clarke 25 May 2022,
18:35 UTC
Falcon 9 Block 5 Success
ÑuSat-30 (Aleph-1 30) Margherita Hack[16] 2022-057S Margherita Hack 25 May 2022,
18:35 UTC
Falcon 9 Block 5 Success
ÑuSat-31 (Aleph-1 31) Ruby Payne-Scott[16] 2022-057W Ruby Payne-Scott 25 May 2022,
18:35 UTC
Falcon 9 Block 5 Success
ÑuSat-32 (Aleph-1 32) Albania-1[17] 2023-001BH 3 January 2023,
14:56 UTC
Falcon 9 Block 5 Success First Albanian satellites, developed in collaboration with the Albanian government
ÑuSat-33 (Aleph-1 33) Albania-2[17] 2023-001AQ 3 January 2023,
14:56 UTC
Falcon 9 Block 5 Success
ÑuSat-34 (Aleph-1 34) Amelia Earhart[17] 2023-001AN Amelia Earhart 3 January 2023,
14:56 UTC
Falcon 9 Block 5 Success
ÑuSat-35 (Aleph-1 35) Williamina Fleming[17] 2023-001AR Williamina Fleming 3 January 2023,
14:56 UTC
Falcon 9 Block 5 Success
ÑuSat-36 (Aleph-1 36) Annie Jump Cannon[18] 2023-054N Annie Jump Cannon 15 April 2023,
06:48 UTC
Falcon 9 Block 5 Success
ÑuSat-37 (Aleph-1 37) Joan Clarke[18] 2023-054AB Joan Clarke 15 April 2023,
06:48 UTC
Falcon 9 Block 5 Success
ÑuSat-38 (Aleph-1 38) Maria Gaetana Agnesi[18] 2023-054AA Maria Gaetana Agnesi 15 April 2023,
06:48 UTC
Falcon 9 Block 5 Success
ÑuSat-39 (Aleph-1 39) Tikvah Alper[18] 2023-054Z Tikvah Alper 15 April 2023,
06:48 UTC
Falcon 9 Block 5 Success
ÑuSat-40 (Aleph-1 40) Carolyn Shoemaker[19] 2023-084M Carolyn S. Shoemaker 12 June 2023,
21:35 UTC
Falcon 9 Block 5 Success
ÑuSat-41 (Aleph-1 41) Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin[19] 2023-084N Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin 12 June 2023,
21:35 UTC
Falcon 9 Block 5 Success
ÑuSat-42 (Aleph-1 42) María Wonenburger[19] 2023-084AL Maria Wonenburger 12 June 2023,
21:35 UTC
Falcon 9 Block 5 Success
ÑuSat-43 (Aleph-1 43) Rose Dieng-Kuntz[19] 2023-084AN Rose Dieng-Kuntz 12 June 2023,
21:35 UTC
Falcon 9 Block 5 Success
ÑuSat-44 (Aleph-1 44) Maria Mitchell Maria Mitchell 4 March 2024 Falcon 9 Block 5 Success
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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "ÑuSat 1, ..., 98 (NewSat 1, ..., 98, Aleph-1 1, ..., 98)".
  2. ^ "Tenes ganas de elegir el nombre del próximo satélite argentino? • r/argentina". reddit (in Spanish). 29 August 2016. Retrieved 15 June 2017.
  3. ^ a b Kargieman, Emiliano [@earlkman] (4 August 2017). "Notice: satellite inside. Two more hit the road: Ada and Maryam soon taking their ride to LEO https://t.co/CklFZoAOP0" (Tweet). Retrieved 11 January 2021 – via Twitter.
  4. ^ a b Jack, Federico [@fedejack] (4 August 2017). "@nwolovick @Juandedeboca @earlkman Si!" (Tweet). Retrieved 11 January 2021 – via Twitter.
  5. ^ a b Satellogic [@Satellogic] (11 January 2018). "Next Feb 2nd we are launching 2 new satellites called Ada & Maryam. Be the first one to check… https://t.co/AC3wRZwKyn" (Tweet). Retrieved 11 January 2021 – via Twitter.
  6. ^ a b Jones, Andrew. "China launches seismo-electromagnetic probe along with ESA, Danish and commercial CubeSats". GB Times. Archived from the original on 2 February 2018. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  7. ^ a b Satellogic [@Satellogic] (2 February 2018). "Sucessfull [sic] launch 🚀. Ada & Maryam are talking to us! 🛰🛰 #hayBeacons #adaymaryam #adalovelace #maryammirzakhani #satellites" (Tweet). Retrieved 11 January 2021 – via Twitter.
  8. ^ Satellogic [@Satellogic] (3 March 2020). "Next March 24 at 01:51:10 UTC we are launching a new satellite called Hypatia. Take a look at our new mission patch. 🛰️🚀 #satellites #hypatia #satellogic https://t.co/RHfYYJEQ1B" (Tweet). Retrieved 11 January 2021 – via Twitter.
  9. ^ Clark, Stephen (2 September 2020). "Vega rocket launches with 53 small satellites". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  10. ^ a b @Satellogic (16 December 2019). "We are excited to announce the launch of two new satellites called Sophie and Marie on 15 January 2020 at 10:53 am Beijing Time. Take a look at our beautiful mission patch!" (Tweet). Retrieved 16 December 2019 – via Twitter.
  11. ^ a b Clark, Stephen. "Argentine smallsats hitch ride with Chinese payloads on Long March rocket". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Ten Satellogic Earth-imaging satellites successfully launched". Spaceflight Now. 6 November 2020. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Post-Launch Report".
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h "Satellogic Launches 4 Additional Satellites on SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket". Business Wire. 30 June 2021. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Satellogic Launches Five Additional Satellites on SpaceX Transporter-4 Mission". Satellogic (Press release). 4 April 2022. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
  16. ^ a b c d "Satellogic Announces Successful SpaceX Launch Of Four Additional Satellites". Satnews. 26 May 2022.
  17. ^ a b c d "Satellogic's Aleph-1 constellation expanded with four smallsat deployments via the Transporter-6 rideshare mission". SatNews. 4 January 2023. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  18. ^ a b c d Lentz, Danny (15 April 2023). "SpaceX Transporter-7 launches 51 payloads, booster return to LZ". NASASpaceFlight. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  19. ^ a b c d Lentz, Danny (12 June 2023). "SpaceX Transporter-8 launches 72 payloads marking 200th booster landing". Retrieved 15 June 2023.
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