''e-st@r'' (Educational Satellite @ Politecnico di Torino) was a miniaturised satellite built by the

Politecnico di Torino The Polytechnic University of Turin ( it, Politecnico di Torino) is the oldest Italian public technical university. The university offers several courses in the fields of Engineering, Architecture, Urban Planning and Industrial Design, and is co ...

. It was a 1U

CubeSat A CubeSat is a class of miniaturized satellite based around a form factor consisting of cubes. CubeSats have a mass of no more than per unit, and often use commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components for their electronics and structure. CubeSats ...

design with a 10 cm side and a mass not exceeding 1.33 kg.

Launch and deployment

In 2006 the

Polytechnic University of Turin The Polytechnic University of Turin ( it, Politecnico di Torino) is the oldest Italian public technical university. The university offers several courses in the fields of Engineering, Architecture, Urban Planning and Industrial Design, and is co ...

had tried to put one of its satellites into orbit ( PiCPoT), but the

Dnepr Dnepr may refer to: *Dnieper, a river flowing through Russia, Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea * Dnepr (motorcycle), a Ukraininan motocycle brand * Dnepr (rocket), a 1999 space launch vehicle *Dnepr radar Dnepr may refer to: *Dnieper, a river ...

launcher used exploded a few seconds after the start and destroyed itself. In 2009 the

European Space Agency , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (1205 ...

in view of the inaugural launch of

Vega Vega is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Lyra. It has the Bayer designation α Lyrae, which is Latinised to Alpha Lyrae and abbreviated Alpha Lyr or α Lyr. This star is relatively close at only from the Sun, an ...

(which being the first launch had a high probability of failure) offered 9 seats on the carrier for the same number of cubesats, plus another two seats for larger satellites. Only 7 of the cubesats managed to be prepared in time for launch: * e-st@r of the Polytechnic of Turin, *

Goliat Goliat is the first artificial satellite developed in Romania. Description The nano satellite was developed and built by the Romanian Space Agency (ROSA). When the project began, the developers of this satellite were still in college. The sate ...

of the

Romanian Space Agency The Romanian Space Agency (ROSA; ) is a public institution with extra-budgetary funding which coordinates Romania's national space technology research programs and space research-related activities. ROSA was founded in 1991 and is subordinated t ...

, *

MaSat-1 MaSat-1 (from the words ''Magyar'' and ''Satellite'', the first meaning " Hungarian" in Hungarian, ''maszat'', pronounced IPA �mɒsɒt meaning "smudge") is the first indigenous Hungarian satellite, developed and built by students at the Technical ...

of the

Budapest University of Technology and Economics The Budapest University of Technology and Economics ( hu, Budapesti Műszaki és Gazdaságtudományi Egyetem or in short ), official abbreviation BME, is the most significant university of technology in Hungary and is considered the world's oldes ...

, *

PW-Sat PW-Sat is a series of satellites that includes the first Polish artificial satellite which was launched 13 February 2012 from ELA-1 at Guiana Space Centre aboard Italian-built Vega launch vehicle during its maiden voyage. PW-Sat1's mission was ...

of the

Warsaw Polytechnic The Warsaw University of Technology ( pl, Politechnika Warszawska, lit=Varsovian Polytechnic) is one of the leading institutes of technology in Poland and one of the largest in Central Europe. It employs 2,453 teaching faculty, with 357 professor ...

, *

ROBUSTA ROBUSTA (Radiation on Bipolar for University Satellite Test Application) is a nano-satellite scientific experiment developed by the University of Montpellier students as part of a Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES) call for student projects ...

of the

University of Montpellier II Montpellier 2 University (Université Montpellier 2) was a French university in the '' académie'' of Montpellier. It was one of the three universities formed in 1970 from the original University of Montpellier. Its main campus neighbors the Mon ...

, *

UniCubeSat-GG UniCubeSat-GG is a Miniaturized satellite built by the Sapienza University of Rome. It was launched into Low Earth Orbit on the maiden flight of Arianespace's Vega rocket on 13 February 2012. The launch was a multi-payload mission shared with LARE ...

of the

University of Rome La Sapienza The Sapienza University of Rome ( it, Sapienza – Università di Roma), also called simply Sapienza or the University of Rome, and formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a public research university located in Rome, Ita ...

, *

Xatcobeo Xatcobeo, originally known as ''Dieste'', is a project to build the first Galician artificial satellite developed by Agrupación Estratéxica Aeroespacial (currently Alén Space) of the University of Vigo and leadered by Fernando Aguado in collab ...

of the

University of Vigo The University of Vigo ( gl, Universidade de Vigo) is a public university located in the city of Vigo in the Province of Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain. There are three campuses: * Campus of Vigo in Lagoas-Marcosende, between the municipalities of ...

. They were launched into

low Earth Orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never mor ...

on the maiden flight of

Arianespace Arianespace SA is a French company founded in 1980 as the world's first commercial launch service provider. It undertakes the operation and marketing of the Ariane programme. The company offers a number of different launch vehicles: the heavy ...

rocket on 13 February 2012 on a multi-payload mission shared with

LARES Lares ( , ; archaic , singular ''Lar'') were guardian deities in ancient Roman religion. Their origin is uncertain; they may have been hero-ancestors, guardians of the hearth, fields, boundaries, or fruitfulness, or an amalgam of these. Lares ...

of the Italian Space Agency and

ALMASat-1 ALMASat-1 (ALma MAter SATellite) was a micro satellite developed by University of Bologna for demonstrative purposes to benefit Earth observation missions. The project was funded by Italian Ministry of Research. About the satellite The satellite ...

of the

University of Bologna The University of Bologna ( it, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, UNIBO) is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (''studiorum''), it is the oldest university in continuo ...

. The satellite was successfully deployed into orbit, and the signal was received by the team's

ground station A ground station, Earth station, or Earth terminal is a terrestrial radio station designed for extraplanetary telecommunication with spacecraft (constituting part of the ground segment of the spacecraft system), or reception of radio waves fro ...

and by

amateur radio operator An amateur radio operator is someone who uses equipment at an amateur radio station to engage in two-way personal communications with other amateur operators on radio frequencies assigned to the amateur radio service. Amateur radio operators hav ...

s. However, operations have been impeded by unexpected tumbling, and the satellite was put into safe mode. The communication system uses a processor PIC and communicates with the ground at a frequency of 437.445 MHz with a power of 0.5 W. The frequencies have been assigned to cubesats by ESA. A total of about 50,000 euros was spent on the design and construction of the satellite. The orbit is inclined 71° and is slightly

elliptical Elliptical may mean: * having the shape of an ellipse, or more broadly, any oval shape ** in botany, having an elliptic leaf shape ** of aircraft wings, having an elliptical planform * characterised by ellipsis (the omission of words), or by conc ...

. It also crosses the van Allen belts. The satellite was created by the CubeSatTeam of the Polytechnic of Turin, responsible for creating

picosatellite A small satellite, miniaturized satellite, or smallsat is a satellite of low mass and size, usually under . While all such satellites can be referred to as "small", different classifications are used to categorize them based on mass. Satellites ca ...

References

External links

* http://areeweb.polito.it/cubesat-team * http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/e-star.htm Satellites orbiting Earth CubeSats Student satellites Satellites of Italy Spacecraft launched in 2012 2012 in Italy Spacecraft launched by Vega rockets {{Italy-spacecraft-stub