One Year in Space: Results from PoSAT-1

PoSAT-1 was launched in September 1993, joining the UoSAT family of spacecraft already in orbit. Built by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) for a consortium of Portuguese industry, PoSAT-1 represents the latest generation of UoSAT microsatellites. This paper will briefly review the development and evolution of the UoSAT design. It will then summarize key functional parameters of PoSAT-1 including attitude determination and control, electrical power, data handling systems, thermal control and communications. PoSAT-1 contains a variety of experiments including CCD wide and narrow field Earth imaging cameras, a star field sensor, a GPS receiver, cosmic radiation and total radiation dose detectors, and a digital signal processing (DSP) experiment. Results from all these experiments will be highlighted. The paper concludes with future UoSAT/SSTL research and development efforts.