| Name |
SNAP-1 (Surrey Nanosatellite Applications Platform) |
| Type |
Nanosatellite |
| Units or mass |
6.5 kg |
| Status |
Was operational until ? |
| Launched |
2000-06-28 |
| NORAD ID |
26386 |
| Deployer |
Custom |
| Launcher |
Kosmos-3M |
| Organisation |
Surrey Satellite Technology |
| Institution |
Company |
| Entity |
Commercial |
| Nation |
UK |
| Oneliner |
SNAP-1 nanosatellite, weighing 6.3kg, had a number of firsts, including what we believe to be the first nanosat with propulsion.
|
| Description |
SNAP-1 (Surrey Nanosatellite Applications Platform) was designed and built as a research mission by a joint academic-commercial team at the Surrey Space Centre and SSTL - funded entirely by SSTL.
The objective of SNAP-1 is to demonstrate in orbit the capabilities of advanced, highly integrated nanosatellites and their use as autonomous robots for observing orbiting space vehicles.
In addition to the machine vision payload, SNAP-1 carries a miniature propulsion system, the size of a pencil, using butane. This is currently being used to manoeuvre the nanosatellite to rendezvous with the Chinese Tsinghua 1 microsatellite.
Also on-board this tiny spacecraft are other miniature systems: a momentum wheel and magnetorquers for 3-axis attitude control; a GPS receiver for autonomous orbit determination; a 220 MHz 'StrongARM' 1100 on-board computer for housekeeping and high level vision functions; and an S-band communications system.
SNAP-1 imaging capabilities:
- Three wide-angle CMOS cameras, each with a 350 x 288 pixel detector, and each with a 90 degree field of view to cover an arc of 270 degrees.
- A single narrow-angle camera (350 x 288 pixels) co-aligned with the centre wide-angle camera providing the capability of finer feature inspection.
SNAP-1 mission achievements:
- The first fully 3-axis attitude stablised nanosatellite.
- The first nanosatellite with on-board propulsion demonstrating orbit control.
- The first in-orbit images of another spacecraft from a nanosatellite.
- The first successful use of GPS on-board a nanosatellite - used for orbit manoeuvring.
- First use of propulsion on a nanosatellite and first use of butane as a space propellant.
|
| Sources |
[1] [2] [3] [4] |
| Keywords |
Propulsion |
Last modified: 2022-12-29
Detailed SNAP-1 entry in the Database
Full Nanosats Database (much more data)
