The first Russiaт picosatellites in orbit

On July 11, 2023, at 9:40 Moscow time, 6 TinySat picosatellites were released from the StratoSat TK-1 cubesat deployer. It was the first time in Russia that picosats were sent into space, as well as the first-time spacecraft were delivered into orbit using cubesats!

StratoSat TK-1 was created by Stratonautics together with Geoscan. The platform's development team prepared in advance for this historic event: from the day of launch, specialists carried out system operability checks, received a radio beacon, and established stable radio communication between the ground control station and the satellite. 

Day before the release of the picosats, the development team identified the current orientation of the satellite and changed it so that during the opening of the container, the camera was pointed at the Earth (so as to avoid light-striking and flares on  the photo). After that, a flight task was sent to the device the next day.

On the morning of July 11, all commands were sent to the CubeSat: turn on the camera, burn the threads, open the shutters of the third unit of the mother SC, start video and photos shooting, separate picosatellites and record video. Amateur radio operators could receive signals from TinySats immediately after separation. 

Congratulations to the satellite developers on their successful launch and wish new records!