UK-DMC or UK-DMC 1, also known as BNSCSAT-1, was a British satellite that formed part of the Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC). It was built by Surrey Satellite Technology, who operated it via DMC International Imaging on behalf of the British National Space Centre and later the UK Space Agency. It was launched alongside other DMC satellites on a Kosmos-3M rocket from Plesetsk on 27 September 2003, and was retired from service in November 2011.
Mission As well as carrying remote sensing imaging sensors, the satellite also carries experimental payloads: the CLEO Cisco router in Low Earth Orbit, an experiment demonstrating GNSS reflectometry, and a water resistojet propulsion system.D. Gibbon, I Coxhill, D. Nicolini, R. Correi and J. Page, The Design, Development and In-flight Operation of a Water Resistojet Micropropulsion System, 40th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 11–14 July 2004, AIAA 2004-3798. The UK-DMC demonstrated the first use of the Interplanetary Internet in space.UK-DMC satellite first to transfer sensor data from space using 'bundle' protocol , SSTL press release, 11 September 2008. In November 2010, nearing the end of its operational life, UK-DMC was placed into a lower orbit.SSTL satellite steps aside to reduce space junk, SSTL press release, 10 November 2010
Deactivation After 8 years in orbit, daily operations of the satellite ceased in November 2011. Operations have been taken over by the satellite's successor, UK-DMC 2.
The satellite is now a part of the growing space junk in Low Earth Orbit, which will decay in the Earth's atmosphere sometime in the future.
References
External links
SSTL page describing UK-DMC satellite, retrieved 2 November 2007.