| Satellite | Guardian - Alpha (Pushan-Alpha) | 
|---|---|
| Spacecraft type | CubeSat | 
| Units or mass | 3U | 
| Status | Operational? (Personal contact 2023-04-14 but object not yet identified in Space-Track. However, Jonathan McDowell marks this as "Reentered attached to A10827 Transporter-6") | 
| Launched | 2023-01-03 | 
| NORAD ID | 55081 ? | 
| Deployer | ? | 
| Launcher | Falcon 9 (Transporter-6) | 
| Entity name | Orbital Astronautics | 
| Institution | Company | 
| Entity | Commercial | 
| Nation | UK | 
| Manufacturer | AIVT by Orbital Astronautics | 
| Operator | Orbital Astronautics | 
| Launch brokerer | Momentus | 
| Partners | Digantara | 
| Oneliner | 
                       Demonstrate a variety of technologies including an UltraScale+ high-performance computer.  | 
                  
| Description | 
                       Demonstrate a variety of technologies including an UltraScale+ high-performance computer coupled with a constellation management system based on an artificial neural network, a novel electrical power system, a compact attitude determination and control system, and a new thermal management system. After the in-orbit demonstration, OrbAstro plans to launch its own cluster of formation flying nanosatellites to test remaining technologies the firm is developing, before focusing on the needs of larger constellations. Included: 
 They will also de-risk our Guardian satellites. Total satellite mass is 1.66kg (not including 3rd-party hosted payloads & COTS redundant systems). When the build-trigger was pulled, nuts/bolts to flight-qualified satellite shipped out the door: 5 days. There were some teething issues. Our aim for the Dec mission is 3 days. We are building batch-production capabilities with a lot of automation involved. More on that in a later post.  | 
                  
| Notes | 
                       Digantara's Pushan-Alpha is one payload on Guardian-Alpha as confirmed by the CEO via a private message.  | 
                  
| Sources | [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] | 
| Photo sources | [1] [2] | 
| Subsystems sources | [1] | 
| Keywords | Propulsion | 
| On the same launch | 
                      
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Last modified: 2025-01-13
