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SAFIR

OHB System and the German Space Agency (DARA) have undertaken a program of small communications satellites named SAFIR (Satellite for Information Relay). The first of the series, SAFIR-R1, was launched on 4 November 1994 attached to the Russian Resurs 0-1 spacecraft. The 38-kg package was not released for this initial test of messaging service in a 660-km orbit, but it did carry a Rockwell SpaceNav V GPS receiver. Additional SAFIR-Rand free-flying SAFIR spacecraft are scheduled for flights in 1996 and 1997 on board other Russian launch vehicles. The SAFIR spacecraft will have a mass of 55 kg in the form of a 0.45-m cube and a gravity-gradient stabilization system. Communications will be in the 400 MHz band (References 77-78).

77. P.B. de Selding, "OHB System Provides Loan To Secure Launch", Space News, 17-23 October 1994, pp. 3, 21.

78.C. Lardier, "Le SAFIR-R1 Lance Avec Resource-03 Par Zenith", Air & Cosmos, 18 November 1994, p. 39.

Sources and Resources

• Adapted from: Europe and Asia in Space 1993-1994, Nicholas Johnson and David Rodvold [Kaman Sciences / Air Force Phillips Laboratory]

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