By Roland Piquepaille
Europe will launch 50 ultra-small satellites in 2007 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Sputnik, the first artificial satellite of the Earth launched in October 1957. BBC News Online writes that each nanosatellite will weigh only about 1 kilogram and represent a single nation. Arianespace will launch all 50 of the nanosats in a single payload. The nanosats will stay in orbit for about 2 years and will perform experiments chosen and designed by each individual country. For the first time in history, 50 different countries will have the opportunity to do space research, and probably at little cost. In the future, similar clusters of nanosats could be launched for collaborative missions, acting as groups or swarms and having a single goal. Read more...The former Soviet Union's Sputnik 1 was the size of a basketball and became the first artificial satellite of the Earth on 4 October, 1957.
"Just like 50 years ago, when the first manmade Earth satellite was launched, these nanosatellites will signal a new era for scientists worldwide," said Jean-Yves Le Gall, chief executive officer for Arianespace.
Back in 1957, Sputnik-1 weighed 83 kilograms while today's smaller satellites weigh less than 10 kilograms.
These satellites can significantly reduce the cost of access to space for many nations and can be used in groups, or swarms, for Earth observation.
UK satellite company Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) has developed small satellites, like SNAP-1 which was launched in June 2000.
It weighed 6.5kg and carried micro-miniature GPS navigation, camera technology, onboard computing, propulsion and attitude control technologies.
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Here are two pictures of the nanosatellite SNAP-1 launched in 2000 (Credit: SSTL). |
The 2007 mission was announced at the International Astronautical Federation at its congress in Vancouver, Canada, which was held between October 4 and 8, 2004.
The event has not be widely covered. I only found very short pieces of information, such as this press release from Arianespace, this mini-review from United Press International or this just released story from SPACE.com.
I don't know if the 50 nanosats will have similar shapes and I didn't find any pictures. If you have pointers about this future mission, please post them below. Thanks.
Source: BBC News Online, Oct. 8, 2004
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