FAS | Space | Guide | Germany | Comm |||| Index | Search |

Tubsat

In 1991 The Technical University of Berlin's microsat Tubsat A was carried into a sun-synchronous orbit of approximately 775 km at an inclination of 98.5 degrees during ESA's ERS-1 flight. The 35-kg, 0.4 m cube satellite was designed to test a 1.6/1.5 GHz data relay system for Antarctic platforms. An octagonal Tubsat B with slightly greater dimensions (0.5 m), power (25W), and mass (40 kg) was launched on 25 January 1994 as a piggy-back satellite with the Russian Meteor 3-6 spacecraft into an orbit of 1,185 km by 1,209 km at an inclination of 82.6 degrees. The principal objective of Tubsat B was space technology experimentation rather than communications, and the spacecraft failed after less than six weeks in orbit.

Sources and Resources

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

FAS | Space | Guide | Germany | Comm |||| Index | Search |