UKUBE-1 SATELLITE HISTORY PAGE

UKube-1, the UK Space Agency’s first national spacecraft, has now completed its nominal mission following over 14 months of operations.
Discussion is underway with AMSAT-UK about the possibility of taking over UKube-1 operations to continue its educational and outreach activities.

Launched in July 2014, UKube-1 is a technology demonstration mission with a broad set of objectives aimed at attracting and training future generations of engineers,
encouraging collaboration across sectors and institutions, fast tracking space technology development and engaging with students.

As a 3 unit CubeSat (30x30x10cm), flying 4 main payloads, with all the key subsystems of much larger satellites,
UKube-1 remains one of the most advanced CubeSats ever built. Despite some technical challenges in orbit, the mission has achieved a range of milestones including:

• delivery into the correct planned orbit (around 650km, sun-synchronous)
• successful deployment of solar panels and antenna
• good battery health
• slow spin rate measured
• uplink and downlink capabilities checked, including Large Data Transfer, downlink at 3 speeds, and redundant communications mode
• all core payloads commissioned and data collected for each
• on-board camera technology successfully tested
• data downlinked from multiple ground stations across the globe

UKube-1 has also helped maintain the UK’s leading position in the CubeSat sector.
Participation in the mission placed Clyde Space in an excellent position to capitalise on the fast growing global nanosatellite market.
The company has experienced 100% year on year growth, both in turnover and employees,
as a direct result from involvement in UKube-1, and is firmly established as a global leader.




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