Abstract
On 28 June 2000 the UK’s first nano-satellite, SNAP-1, was launched from Plesetsk on a Cosmos launch vehicle, together with a Russian COSPAS-SARSAT satellite called Nadezhda. An SSTL-built Chinese micro-satellite, Tsinghua-1, was also flown. The main mission objective of SNAP-1 was to demonstrate that a sophisticated, fully agile nano-satellite could be constructed rapidly, and at very low cost, using an extension of the modular-COTS-based design philosophy pioneered by SSTL for its micro-satellites.
The SNAP-1 mission has been highly successful, becoming the first nano-satellite (i.e. sub-10kg satellite) to have demonstrated full attitude and orbit control via its miniature momentum-wheel-based attitude control system and its butane-propellantbased propulsion system. This paper discusses Surrey’s design philosophy for nano-satellites, and describes the architecture of the SNAP-1 vehicle in this context. The initial results of SNAP-1’s mission are reviewed, and future exploitation plans discussed.
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References
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© 2002 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Underwood, C., Lappas, V., Richardson, G., Salvignol, J. (2002). SNAP-1: Design, Construction, Launch and Early Operations Phase Results of a Modular COTS-Based Nano-satellite. In: Rycroft, M., Crosby, N. (eds) Smaller Satellites: Bigger Business?. Space Studies, vol 6. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3008-2_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3008-2_6
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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