Geoscan-Edelveis Completes Space Mission

558 days, 360 million km in orbit, 1.6 million received radio beacons

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On February 18, Geoscan-Edelveis, the first private CubeSat from St. Petersburg to venture into space, successfully concluded its mission and decayed, burning up in the Earth’s dense atmospheric layers. Over its 558-day operational period, it not only achieved all principal objectives but also became one of the most celebrated amateur radio satellites, transmitting images of our planet, and entered the top-25 ranking in terms of data packets received by the global SatNOGS network.

Following its launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on August 9, 2022, which commenced the beginning of the Geoscan company’s entry into space, Geoscan-Edelveis, as the pioneer among the 16 Space-π project satellites, began relaying images of the Earth and space via its onboard panoramic camera. Throughout its mission, around 600 images were received and decoded by radio enthusiasts worldwide, with 72 people awarded QSL cards and diplomas from amateur radio contests.

Telemetry from the satellite was accessible on SatNOGS and sonik.space — a platform dedicated to the innovative project of the Geoscan company, an expansive network of ground stations for receiving spacecraft signals. Throughout the lifespan of the CubeSat, SatNOGS documented 26,680 observations and 1,606,660 beacon signals received, and sonik.space has accumulated 2,313 observations since November 22, 2023.

Another significant achievement of the satellite was accomplishing its primary payload tasks. Initially, Geoscan experts conducted successful trials of the GNSS receiver from Elvis company, followed by testing of the gas propulsion system engineered by the Fakel Design Bureau in spring and summer of 2023, backed by the Foundation for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises. This was the first successful test of a CubeSat engine in Russian space history.

Overall, Geoscan-Edelveis traversed over 360 million km in orbit and transported 22,772 names of people and organizations to space, inscribed on a minuscule silicon chip!

The final communication session with the satellite was conducted above Australia. Although the satellite was at a mere altitude of approximately 100 km, with internal temperatures nearing 50°С and external temperature sensors offline due to overheating, it nonetheless relayed telemetry and farewell words, which have been receivable by everyone over the last two weeks – “SO LONG! THX 4 ALL 73!” 

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On the graph, each position is the average value of the satellite’s orbital altitude over one day. For each plot position, the actual TLE was used.

Source.

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