INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE
UniSat-5 ready for launch
UNISAT-5 launch from Russia, the first satellite of the world to be a platform for deployment of CubeSats and PocketQubes.
Rome, 20th November 2013: November is going to be an historical month for the whole international scientific community, regarding small satellites in orbit.
On November 21st, from Yasny Cosmodrome, in the Oremburg region, Russia, the Italian satellite UNISAT-5 will be launched with the Ukrainian-Russian launcher Dnepr.
UNISAT-5 is a Microsatellite-class spacecraft having a mass lower than 50kg. Its main feature, distinguishing it from other satellites of comparable size, is to be a platform for the release of smaller satellites in orbit.
UNISAT-5 marks a world record for Italy, having been made by a two-year old italian company, G.A.U.S.S. Srl.
Inside UNISAT-5, eight small satellites are integrated, having different sizes (four of them are CubeSats, satellites of 10 cm per side, and four PocketQubes of about 5 cm per side) coming from several places in the world, from Pakistan to Peru. Once the UNISAT-5 microsatellite is separated from the Dnepr vector, those satellites will be deployed in orbit using two different deploying systems, made by G.A.U.S.S.’ engineers.
The team comes from the tradition of “Group of Astrodynamics” of the “Scuola di Ingegneria Aerospaziale” of Rome. Under the wise leadership of Prof. Filippo Graziani, the team has already made and launched six university satellites. Building on those experiences, a young team of skilled italian engineers, headed by Dr. Chantal Cappelletti and under the coordination of Mr. Paride Testani, started to offer as a company launch services and technological system to several Universities and Research institutes all around the world.
UNISAT-5 mission makes G.A.U.S.S. one of the very few companies in the world, and the first in Italy, providing launch services for small satellites.
The eight satellites boarded on UNISAT-5 have been made by scientific and reasearch institutes from all around the world.
HumSat-D, made by Universida de Vigo, Spain, will perform some in-orbit tests on a satellite communication system for assistance during natural disasters and fauna monitoring.
ICUBE-1, developed by students of Institute of Space of Tecnology di Islamabad, Pakistan, is going to study effects of space environment on some technological devices.
Dove-4, from the American company Planet Labs Inc., is a technology demonstration mission testing out the latest advances in the Dove-series Earth Imaging satellite design.
PUCPSAT, made by Pontificia Universidad Catolica di Lima, Perù, will be the first Peruvian satellite ever and it’ll deploy another very small satellite of about 100 grams.
About the PocketQubes, UNISAT-5 mission is going to mark another primacy as for the first time a satellite of such a small size will be put in orbit.
Eagle-1, Eagle-2 and QBSCOUT are the first American PockeQubes, made by Morehead State University and University of Maryland respectively.
On the other hand, WREN is the first European PockestQube, and it has been developed by the German company StaDoKo. This small satellite of 125 grams is capable of boarding an electric thruster, a camera and a reaction wheel of only 5 cubic centimeters.
Furthermore, UNISAT-5 has a different kind of mission: it will carry in orbit a piece of art of the painter Gaetano Porcasi, portraying the “Carabinieri” officer Gioacchino Crisafulli, innocent victim of mafia. The picture has been installed in the satellite structure.