Guardian - Alpha Satellite

Guardian - Alpha
Guardian - Alpha
Name Guardian - Alpha (Pushan-Alpha)
Spacecraft type CubeSat
Units or mass 3U
Status Operational? (Personal contact 2023-04-14 but object not yet identified in Space-Track)
Launched 2023-01-03
NORAD ID ?
Deployer ?
Launcher Falcon 9 (Transporter-6)
Organisation Orbital Astronautics
Institution Company
Entity type Commercial
Headquarters UK
Manufacturer AIVT by Orbital Astronautics
Operator Orbital Astronautics
Launch brokerer Momentus
Oneliner

Demonstrate a variety of technologies including an UltraScale+ high-performance computer.

Description

Demonstrate a variety of technologies including an UltraScale+ high-performance computer coupled with a constellation management system based on an artificial neural network, a novel electrical power system, a compact attitude determination and control system, and a new thermal management system.

After the in-orbit demonstration, OrbAstro plans to launch its own cluster of formation flying nanosatellites to test remaining technologies the firm is developing, before focusing on the needs of larger constellations. Included:

  • Ultrascale+ based OBC
  • Novel long-life EPS, 36Wh
  • Full ADCS with dual star-trackers and GPS
  • SDR S-band transceiver
  • Electric Propulsion
  • 3rd-party hosted payloads
  • Solar panels
  • Ultra-light aluminium-carbon chassis
  • COTS redundant UHF transceiver and solar panel are included to de-risk.

They will also de-risk our Guardian satellites. Total satellite mass is 1.66kg (not including 3rd-party hosted payloads & COTS redundant systems).

When the build-trigger was pulled, nuts/bolts to flight-qualified satellite shipped out the door: 5 days. There were some teething issues. Our aim for the Dec mission is 3 days. We are building batch-production capabilities with a lot of automation involved. More on that in a later post.

Sources [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Photo sources [1] [2]
Subsystems sources [1]
Keywords Propulsion
On the same launch

Last modified: 2024-05-29

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Created by Erik Kulu

Email: erik.kulu@nanosats.eu
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/erikkulu

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