Mission type | Technology demonstration |
---|---|
Operator | KIT / NAST |
COSPAR ID | 1998-067QE |
SATCAT no. | 44329 |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 17 April 2019, 20:46 UTC |
Rocket | Antares 230 |
Launch site | Wallops Pad 0A |
Contractor | Northrop Grumman |
Deployed from | International Space Station |
End of mission | |
Disposal | Reentered |
Decay date | 4 October 2021[1] |
NepaliSat-1, also known as Bird NPL, [2] was a Nepalese low orbit research satellite and the first satellite of Nepal. [3] Along with a Sri Lankan satellite, Raavana 1, it was launched as part of Cygnus NG-11 by the United States on 17 April 2019. [4] It reached the International Space Station on 19 April 2019, to be deployed later, and was estimated to revolve the Earth for six months. [5]
The nanosatellite was developed by two Nepalese scientists Aabhas Maskey and Hariram Shrestha , both of whom were at the time studying at Japanese Kyushu Institute of Technology. Aabhas Maskey, a PhD candidate in space engineering was the project manager of the Birds-3 project and he involved himself in this project. [6] The satellite had a mass of 1.3 kg [7] and it was funded by the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology while it was constructed under the BIRDS-3 project of the Japanese Kyushu Institute of Technology. [8] The main mission of Birds Program was to support countries who have never sent a satellite to space. [6] The development of the satellite cost nearly twenty million Nepalese rupee. [3] The satellite contained Nepal's flag and Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) logo, alongside the developers name. [9] [10]
The satellite was launched on 18 April 2019 at 02:31 am (Nepal Standard Time) from Virginia. [11] The satellite was orbiting at an altitude of about 400 kilometres. [3] The satellite took pictures of Nepal to provide geographical information to the country. [9] Suresh Kumar Dhungel said to The Kathmandu Post: "The satellite will remain in the Earth’s orbit for a year during which the satellite will be closely studied" and "Since it is a learning phase, the study of the satellite will help us in developing more advanced satellites in the future." [4]
Prime minister of Nepal Khadga Prasad Oli congratulated the scientists via Twitter by writing, "Though a humble beginning, with the launching of NepaliSat-1 Nepal has entered the Space-Era. I wish to congratulate all those scientists and institutions that were involved right from the development to its launching thereby enhancing the prestige of our country." [11] Suresh Kumar Dhungel, spokesman for Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), said, "...they invested in the satellite in a bid to open new paths for space engineering in the country." [11]
After the successful launch of this satellite another group of engineering graduates were working on another satellite named "Nepal PQ-1", prepared to launch in 2020. [12]
Section source [13]
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PhoneSat is an ongoing NASA project of building nanosatellites using unmodified consumer-grade off-the-shelf smartphones and Arduino platform and launching them into Low Earth Orbit. This project is part of NASA's Small Spacecraft Technology Program and was started in 2009 at NASA Ames Research Center.
NG-11, previously known as OA-11, is the twelfth flight of the Northrop Grumman robotic resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its eleventh flight to the International Space Station under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-1) contract with NASA. The mission launched on 17 April 2019 at 20:46:07 UTC. This is the last mission from the extended CRS-1 contract; follow-up missions are part of the CRS-2 contract. Cygnus NG-11 was also the first mission to load critical hardware onto Cygnus within the last 24 hours prior to launch, a new Antares feature.
GhanaSat-1 was the first Ghanaian nanosatellite to be launched into space. It was designed and built in two years in conjunction with the Kyushu Institute of Technology Birds-1 program, which has the goal of helping countries build their first satellite.
Mazaalai was a Mongolian nanosatellite CubeSat that was launched into space on 3 June 2017 as part of the SpaceX CRS-11 mission.
BRAC Onnesha was the first nanosatellite built in Bangladesh to be launched into space. The satellite was designed and built in conjunction with Kyushu Institute of Technology Birds-1 program, which has the goal of helping countries build their first satellite. It was designed and built over a two-year period.
Nigeria EduSat-1 was a Nigerian nanosatellite built by the Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA), created in conjunction with the Japanese Birds-1 program. It was Nigeria's first satellite built by a university. It was launched from the Japanese Kibō module of the International Space Station, being brought to the station as part of SpaceX CRS-11.
Birds-1 was the first iteration of a multinational program called the Joint Global Multi-Nations Birds Satellite project, or Birds project, to help countries build their first satellite. The Japanese Kyushu Institute of Technology (KIT) supported the design and fabrication of the satellites. The constellation was launched by a Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station on 3 June 2017, as part of CRS-11, where it was released from the Kibō module into space. Japan, Ghana, Mongolia, Nigeria, and Bangladesh participated in the Birds-1 program, all building identical satellites for the constellation.
The Philippine Scientific Earth Observation Microsatellite (PHL-Microsat) was a satellite program carried by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) of the Philippines in cooperation with the Tohoku and Hokkaido Universities of Japan.
UBAKUSAT was a Turkish nanosatellite that was developed by Istanbul Technical University. It was launched into space on board a Falcon-9 rocket in April 2018 and was deployed into its orbit from the International Space Station in May 2018. It was built as a technology demonstration and Earth observation satellite to provide voice communications for amateur radio stations around the world. It carried an experimental card, TAMSAT Simplesat, which allowed scientists to test its accuracy of measuring radiation from space. It was the fifth satellite to be built by students of Istanbul Technical University.
Maya-1 was a Filipino nanosatellite. It was developed under the Philippine Scientific Earth Observation Microsatellite program (PHL-Microsat) and was jointly implemented by the University of the Philippines and the Department of Science and Technology as part of the Kyushu Institute of Technology-led multinational second Joint Global Multi-nations Birds Satellite (Birds-2). Maya-1 was the first nanosatellite of the Philippines.
BHUTAN-1 was the first Bhutanese nanosatellite to be launched into space. The satellite was built during Kyushu Institute of Technology's Birds-2 program. The Birds program helps countries fly their first satellite. BHUTAN-1 was launched into orbit aboard the SpaceX CRS-15 mission on 29 June 2018. It was deployed from the Kibō module of the International Space Station (ISS) on 10 August 2018. The satellite had cameras to image the Earth.
The Space Technology and Applications Mastery, Innovation and Advancement is a space technology program by the Philippine government. It is considered as the successor program to the Philippine Scientific Earth Observation Microsatellite (PHL-Microsat) program, a cooperation between the Philippine government and Japanese universities to develop microsatellites. The program is funded under the Department of Science and Technology.
UiTMSAT-1 was a Malaysian nanosatellite, built primarily by Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) as part of the multi-nation Birds-2 project. The 1U CubeSat was launched into space on 29 June 2018 and deployed from the International Space Station (ISS) on 10 August 2018.
Raavana-1 was the first Sri Lankan satellite. The CubeSat-sized satellite was launched as part of the Cygnus NG-11 mission to the ISS on 17 April 2019. On 17 June 2019, the satellite was deployed into orbit from the ISS.
Maya-2 was a Filipino nanosatellite. It succeeded Maya-1, the first Filipino nanosatellite, which was deorbited in November 2020.
GuaraníSat-1 was the first Paraguayan satellite. The nanosatellite's development was part of a collaboration between the Paraguayan Space Agency and the fourth Joint Global Multination Birds Satellite (Birds-4) multi-national project initiated by the Kyushu Institute of Technology of Japan.