ÑuSat satellite series (, sometimes translated into English as NewSat) is a series of Argentinean commercial Earth observation satellites. They form the Aleph-1 constellation, which is designed, built and operated by Satellogic.
Overview Satellites design The satellites in the constellation are identical 51 × 57 × 82 cm spacecraft of mass. The satellites are equipped with an imaging system operating in visible light and infrared. The constellation will allow for commercially available real-time Earth imaging and video with a ground resolution of . The satellites were developed based on the experience gained on the BugSat 1 prototype satellite.
BugSat 1 The BugSat 1 (nickname Tita) was a technology demonstration mission for the ÑuSat satellites. It was launched on 19 June 2014 by a Russian Dnepr rocket. It was a microsatellite weighing 22 kg with outer dimensions of 27.5 × 50 × 50 cm. It also carried amateur radio capabilities.
Missions The Aleph-1 constellation will consist of more than 300 satellites. The first two satellites were launched as piggy-back payloads on a Chinese Long March 4B rocket in May 2016 from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center into a 500 km Sun-synchronous orbit with an inclination of 97.5°. The third satellite was launched as a piggy-back payload on a Long March 4B launch vehicle in June 2017. The fourth and fifth satellites were launched as piggy-backs on a Long March 2D rocket in February 2018. The sixth satellite was launched on a rideshare mission on a Vega rocket in September 2020. Satellites number seven and eight were launched as piggy-backs on a Long March 2D rocket in January 2020. Satellites number 9-18 were launched on a Long March 6 launch vehicle on 6 November 2020.
Ground communications An U/V transponder with 2 watts of output power for 8 GHz downlink and 2 GHz uplink will be operating on 100 kHz bandwidth.
LabOSat / MeMOSat payloads MeMOSat, developed by the LabOSat Group, designed and built by a group of scientists at the National Atomic Energy Commission (), the National Institute of Industrial Technology (), the National University of General San Martín () and National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET).
This memory was specially designed to operate in harsh environments and adverse conditions, such as the strong radiation it must withstand in space. Its main objective is to test electronic components that will be commercialized in the future. To do this, the memory is made up of two metallic films with an oxide between about 20 nm thick, with electrical resistance properties, that can send information from the satellites, allowing to study their behavior in these hostile environments.
AMSAT payload Additionally, ÑuSat-1 carries a U/V linear transponder called LUSEX provided by AMSAT Argentina (AMSAT-LU) to offer services to the HAM community.
List of satellites Although the satellites are officially named "ÑuSat", each satellite has a nickname, a tradition from Satellogic that dates back since its very first satellite Fresco. Name Nickname COSPAR In homage to Launch date Launch vehicle Outcome Remarks ÑuSat 1 (Aleph-1 1,Lusat-OSCAR 87, LO 87) Fresco 2016-033B Queso fresco (alongside Batata, they make the traditional Argentinian dessert "Fresco y Batata") 30 May 2016 Long March 4B Success First commercial small satellite from Argentina. ÑuSat 2 (Aleph-1 2) Batata 2016-033C Dulce de batata (alongside Fresco, they make the traditional Argentinian dessert "Fresco y Batata") 30 May 2016 Long March 4B Success First commercial small satellite from Argentina. ÑuSat 3 (Aleph-1 3) Milanesat 2017-034C Milanesa 15 June 2017 Long March 4B Success Nickname proposed by a Reddit user ÑuSat 4 (Aleph-1 4) Ada 2018-015D Ada Lovelace 2 February 2018 Long March 2D Success ÑuSat 5 (Aleph-1 5) Maryam 2018-015K Maryam Mirzakhani 2 February 2018 Long March 2D Success ÑuSat 6 (Aleph-1 6) Hypatia 2020-061A Hypatia 3 September 2020 Vega Success ÑuSat 7 (Aleph-1 7) Sophie 2020-003B Sophie Germain 15 January 2020 Long March 2D Success ÑuSat 8 (Aleph-1 8) Marie 2020-003C Marie Curie 15 January 2020 Long March 2D Success ÑuSat 9 (Aleph-1 9) Alice 2020-079A Alice Ball 6 November 2020,03:19 UTC Long March 6 Success ÑuSat 10 (Aleph-1 10) Caroline 2020-079B Caroline Herschel 6 November 2020,03:19 UTC Long March 6 Success ÑuSat 11 (Aleph-1 11) Cora 2020-079C Cora Ratto 6 November 2020,03:19 UTC Long March 6 Success ÑuSat 12 (Aleph-1 12) Dorothy 2020-079D Dorothy Vaughan 6 November 2020,03:19 UTC Long March 6 Success ÑuSat 13 (Aleph-1 13) Emmy 2020-079E Emmy Noether 6 November 2020,03:19 UTC Long March 6 Success ÑuSat 14 (Aleph-1 14) Hedy 2020-079F Hedy Lamarr 6 November 2020,03:19 UTC Long March 6 Success ÑuSat 15 (Aleph-1 15) Katherine 2020-079G Katherine Johnson 6 November 2020,03:19 UTC Long March 6 Success ÑuSat 16 (Aleph-1 16) Lise 2020-079H Lise Meitner 6 November 2020,03:19 UTC Long March 6 Success ÑuSat 17 (Aleph-1 17) Mary 2020-079J Mary Jackson 6 November 2020,03:19 UTC Long March 6 Success ÑuSat 18 (Aleph-1 18) Vera 2020-079K Vera Rubin 6 November 2020,03:19 UTC Long March 6 Success ÑuSat 19 (Aleph-1 19) Rosalind 2021-059AC Rosalind Franklin 30 June 2021,19:31 UTC Falcon 9 Block 5 Success ÑuSat 20 (Aleph-1 20) Grace 2021-059AU Grace Hopper 30 June 2021,19:31 UTC Falcon 9 Block 5 Success Decayed on 11 November 2023. ÑuSat 21 (Aleph-1 21) Elisa 2021-059AT Elisa Bachofen 30 June 2021,19:31 UTC Falcon 9 Block 5 Success Decayed on 26 October 2023. ÑuSat 22 (Aleph-1 22) Sofya 2021-059AS Sofya Kovalevskaya 30 June 2021,19:31 UTC Falcon 9 Block 5 Success ÑuSat 23 (Aleph-1 23) Annie Maunder 2022-033M Annie Maunder 1 April 2022,16:24 UTC Falcon 9 Block 5 Success ÑuSat 24 (Aleph-1 25) Kalpana Chawla 2022-033X Kalpana Chawla 1 April 2022,16:24 UTC Falcon 9 Block 5 Success ÑuSat 25 (Aleph-1 25) Maria Telkes 2022-033Q Maria Telkes 1 April 2022,16:24 UTC Falcon 9 Block 5 Success ÑuSat 26 (Aleph-1 26) Mary Somerville 2022-033 Mary Somerville 1 April 2022,16:24 UTC Falcon 9 Block 5 Success ÑuSat 27 (Aleph-1 27) Sally Ride 2022-033R Sally Ride 1 April 2022,16:24 UTC Falcon 9 Block 5 Success ÑuSat-28 (Aleph-1 28) Alice Lee 2022-057R Alice Lee 25 May 2022,18:35 UTC Falcon 9 Block 5 Success ÑuSat-29 (Aleph-1 29) Edith Clarke 2022-057AJ Edith Clarke 25 May 2022,18:35 UTC Falcon 9 Block 5 Success ÑuSat-30 (Aleph-1 30) Margherita Hack 2022-057S Margherita Hack 25 May 2022,18:35 UTC Falcon 9 Block 5 Success ÑuSat-31 (Aleph-1 31) Ruby Payne-Scott 2022-057W Ruby Payne-Scott 25 May 2022,18:35 UTC Falcon 9 Block 5 Success ÑuSat-32 (Aleph-1 32) Albania-1 2023-001BH 3 January 2023,14:56 UTC Falcon 9 Block 5 SuccessFirst Albanian satellites, developed in collaboration with the Albanian government ÑuSat-33 (Aleph-1 33) Albania-2 2023-001AQ 3 January 2023,14:56 UTC Falcon 9 Block 5 Success ÑuSat-34 (Aleph-1 34) Amelia Earhart 2023-001AN Amelia Earhart 3 January 2023,14:56 UTC Falcon 9 Block 5 Success ÑuSat-35 (Aleph-1 35) Williamina Fleming 2023-001AR Williamina Fleming 3 January 2023,14:56 UTC Falcon 9 Block 5 Success ÑuSat-36 (Aleph-1 36) Annie Jump Cannon 2023-054N Annie Jump Cannon 15 April 2023,06:48 UTC Falcon 9 Block 5 Success ÑuSat-37 (Aleph-1 37) Joan Clarke 2023-054AB Joan Clarke 15 April 2023,06:48 UTC Falcon 9 Block 5 Success ÑuSat-38 (Aleph-1 38) Maria Gaetana Agnesi 2023-054AA Maria Gaetana Agnesi 15 April 2023,06:48 UTC Falcon 9 Block 5 Success ÑuSat-39 (Aleph-1 39) Tikvah Alper 2023-054Z Tikvah Alper 15 April 2023,06:48 UTC Falcon 9 Block 5 Success ÑuSat-40 (Aleph-1 40) Carolyn Shoemaker 2023-084M Carolyn S. Shoemaker 12 June 2023,21:35 UTC Falcon 9 Block 5 Success ÑuSat-41 (Aleph-1 41) Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin 2023-084N Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin 12 June 2023,21:35 UTC Falcon 9 Block 5 Success ÑuSat-42 (Aleph-1 42) María Wonenburger 2023-084AL Maria Wonenburger 12 June 2023,21:35 UTC Falcon 9 Block 5 Success ÑuSat-43 (Aleph-1 43) Rose Dieng-Kuntz 2023-084AN Rose Dieng-Kuntz 12 June 2023,21:35 UTC Falcon 9 Block 5 Success ÑuSat-44 (Aleph-1 44) Maria Mitchell 2024-043AA Maria Mitchell 4 March 2024 Falcon 9 Block 5 Success ÑuSat-45 (Aleph-1 45) UzmaSAT-1 2025-009AH 15 January 2025 Falcon 9 Block 5 Success Ceded to Uzma ÑuSat-48 (Aleph-1 48) Henrietta Leavitt 2024-149AG Henrietta Leavitt 16 August 2024 Falcon 9 Block 5 Success ÑuSat-49 (Aleph-1 49) Klára Dán von Neumann 2024-149AJ Klára Dán von Neumann 16 August 2024 Falcon 9 Block 5 Success ÑuSat-50 (Aleph-1 50) Nancy Roman 2024-149AB Nancy Roman 16 August 2024 Falcon 9 Block 5 Success
Gallery
See also Satellogic Planet Labs Spire Global
References
External links by Space Flights News Technical reference by Gunter's Space Page Alepth Constellation by China Space Flight Launcher Data Release by Gunter's Space Page