The start of the student satellite PV-Sat2 is planned for November 19th

Satellite PV-Sat2 satellite, built by members of the Student astronautics circle of the Warsaw University of Technology, is launching a space with the SSO-A mission from the Vandenberg base in the United States. It reaches 575 km above sea level with the SpaceKs Falcon 9 rocket. It will be the fourth satellite satellite in the universe, and the other is built in the Warsaw Polytechnic industry.

As part of its mission, PV-Sat2 will perform a total of four experiments. The most important of them will be testing deorbiting kernels. The dismantling system will shorten the life of satellites in orbit from over 15 years to more than ten months. This is an important invention in the context of an ever more serious problem of the cosmic residue. Thanks to the solution, future satellites would cease to be transformed into hazardous waste after completing their mission, for example, Astronaute at the International Space Station (ISS).

While we read the message sent to PAP, the deorbiting core was made from Mijalar's film ten times thinner than human hair. Its prototype was tested under conditions of gravity and low pressure discharge in Bremen (Germany). The diameter of the rolled core is about 8 cm, which is important because of the possibility of using this solution in microsatellite. The core, when it opens into orbit, will be 2 × 2 meters. PV-Sat2 is a CubeSat satellite – it has a rectangular shape measuring 10k10k22 cm, and sailing lasts less than 25 percent. volume of the device.

"The opening of the kernel will significantly increase the surface of the satellite, and thus the aerodynamic resistance, which will suppress satellites in low orbit around the earth." After the remaining three experiments, the satellite will spread the core, which will gradually reduce its orbit and, therefore, burn in the atmosphere of the Earth – says Inna Uvarova, project coordinator quoted in the message.

The next experiment will relate to determining the position of the PV-Sat2 in the orbit, which will be enabled by the Sun sensor. This sensor can be used in the future for spatial orientation on other satellites. Thanks to this instrument, solar panels of satellites that use such a sensor can be optimally set in relation to the light source.

There are two cameras on the satellite that will register the procedure for opening the docking vessel. Thanks to this, it will be possible to check the exact opening of the kernel. The fourth experiment is a mechanism for deploying solar panels designed by students. Solar cells are the primary source of energy for the PC and PV-Sat2 devices.

As part of the SSO-A mission along with the PV-Sat2 satellite, 48 other CubeSat (miniature satellites) and 15 microsatellite satellites will be launched into space. After launching a rocket in orbit, satellites on the deck will gradually be freed. From the bay that PV-Sat2 shares with the German MOVE-II satellite, the satellite satellite will be pushed as the second, and then its basic subsystems will be launched. During the first 40 minutes, radio silence will be used, during which the basic data from satellite subsystems will be collected. Then the antennas will open and the rotation of the satellite will be stabilized. The PV-Sat2 mission will last 40 days.

The satellite launch agreement was signed in October 2016 by the University of Technology in Warsaw and the organizational company Innovative Space Logistics B.V. Students worked on a satellite in the clean room of the Space Research Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Center for Advanced Materials and Technologies CEZAMAT. Earlier, for months, they designed and developed their solutions at the Center for Innovation and Technology Transfer Management at the Technology University in Warsaw. The strategic partners of the student project are Future Processing and FP Instruments.

Work on the PV-Sat2 Satellite Team from students from various faculties in the Warsaw Polytechnic began in 2013. More than 100 people have been involved in the PV-Sat2 project for more than 5 years. Earlier – in February 2012 – the first Polish satellite PV-Sat, also built by the students of the Warsaw Polytechnic, was in orbit around the Earth. The active contact with the satellite lasted about half a year after being placed in orbit, after which the satellite passed the state of complete hibernation. At that time, one of the subsystems failed, which contributed to the difficult reception of the order to open the deorbiton tail by the satellite. As claimed by the creators of the next satellite, PV-Sat2 will be ready to face such a failure and automatically carry out the mission, even in the event of a loss of communication. (PAP)

author: Evelina Krajczinska

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