TET-1 (german: Technologieerprobungsträger 1, ''Technology Experiment Carrier'') was a

microsatellite A microsatellite is a tract of repetitive DNA in which certain DNA motifs (ranging in length from one to six or more base pairs) are repeated, typically 5–50 times. Microsatellites occur at thousands of locations within an organism's genome. ...

operated by the

German Space Operations Center The German Space Operations Center (GSOC; german: Deutsches Raumfahrt-Kontrollzentrum) is the mission control center of German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich, Germany. Tasks The GSOC performs the following tasks in ...

of the

German Aerospace Center The German Aerospace Center (german: Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V., abbreviated DLR, literally ''German Center for Air- and Space-flight'') is the national center for aerospace, energy and transportation research of Germany ...

. It was the centre of the OOV (On Orbit Verification) Program, initiated to offer on-orbit verification possibilities to the German industrial and scientific aerospace community. TET was based on the

satellite bus A satellite bus (or spacecraft bus) is the main body and structural component of a satellite or spacecraft, in which the payload and all scientific instruments are held. Bus-derived satellites are opposed to specially produced satellites. Bus-d ...

used for the

BIRD Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

satellite, which was launched in 2001. The main contractor for Phase A (feasibility) was

IABG IABG (Industrieanlagen-Betriebsgesellschaft mbH) is a German analysis and test engineering company based in Taufkirchen near Munich. History The company was founded in 1961 on the initiative of the federal government as a central analysis and ...

. The final contract for Phases B, C, and D (definition/qualification, and production) and start was given to Kayser-Threde GmbH, a medium-sized aerospace company based in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

belonging to the German

OHB-System OHB SE is a European multinational technology corporation. Headquartered in Bremen, Germany, the corporation consists of the two business divisions Space Systems and Aerospace + Industrial Products. A key product of the corporation is fully int ...

group. The environmental qualification was successfully conducted in the IABG space simulation centre in Munich. TET-1 was carried to orbit as a secondary payload on a

Soyuz-FG The Soyuz-FG launch vehicle was an improved version of the Soyuz-U from the R-7 family of rockets, designed and constructed by TsSKB-Progress in Samara, Russia. Guidance, navigation, and control system was developed and manufactured by "Polisv ...

Fregat Fregat (russian: Фрегат, ''frigate'') is an upper stage developed by NPO Lavochkin in the 1990s, which is used in some Soyuz and Zenit launch vehicles, but is universal and can be used as a part of a medium and heavy class launch vehicles ...

carrier rocket which was launched from the

Baikonur Cosmodrome The Baikonur Cosmodrome ( kk, Байқоңыр ғарыш айлағы, translit=Baiqoñyr ğaryş ailağy, ; russian: Космодром Байконур, translit=Kosmodrom Baykonur, ) is a spaceport in an area of southern Kazakhstan leased to R ...

on 22 July 2012. The primary payload of the launch was the Kanopus-V1 satellite, with the BelKA-2, Zond-PP and exactView-1 satellites also flying on the same rocket. After 10 years in orbit, the TET-1 satellite re-entered into the atmosphere on 18 November 2022.

References

External links

TET-1 information on DLR website

TET-1 information on eoPortal website

Kayser-Threde GmbH TET-1 logbook

Brochure "TET - The Small Satellite"
on OHB website {{Orbital launches in 2012 Spacecraft launched in 2012 Spacecraft which reentered in 2022 Satellites of Germany Spacecraft launched by Soyuz-FG rockets