A Student Spacecraft for In-Orbit Test of NASA Tracking Programs

The spacecraft SURFSAT-1, now being designed, built, tested, and integrated by undergraduate college students, is to be launched as a secondary payload on a NASA rocket in the spring of 1995. The spacecraft consists of two boxes, roughly 12" x 12" x 16", mounted permanently to the avionics bay structure of the second stage of a Delta II launch vehicle which will carry the Canadian RADARSAT Base. The boxes are powered by their own solar cells with no electrical connection to the second stage structure other then grounding. When in orbit the spacecraft, which will cost less than $2.5M, including test and launch integration, will be used routinely for several years as a test vehicle for NASA. The spacecraft will carry low-power radio transmitters which radiate milliwatts of power in three microwave bands to NASA tracking stations for deep space communication R&D, for testing a new set of earth orbiter tracking stations, and for training tracking station operators.