AOBA VELOX-III

Mission Statement

Aoba Velox-III is the first satellite jointly developed by Nanyang Technological University (NTU, in Singapore) and Kyushu Institute of Technology (“Kyutech”, in Japan).

Besides educational objective, the satellite is used to demonstrate the operation of PPT for attitude control and orbit maintenance, wireless communication of OBDH subsystem and evaluate radiation effect on commercial off-the-shelf microprocessors in space.

This satellite was launched by Kounotori-6 (HTV6) on 9th December 2016, and was deployed from the International Space Station (ISS) on 16 January 2017.

Mission Objectives

  • Demonstration of Pulsed Plasma Thruster（PPT）on orbit for attitude control and orbit maintenance.
  • Evaluate radiation effect on commercial off-the-shelf microprocessors in space.
  • Implement a 2.4 GHz wireless communication for OBDH subsystem.
  • Establishment of fundamentals of a satellite project conducted by Kyutech undergraduate students
AOBA VELOX-III
D​im​e​​nsions​​​​​​​227 mm ​​​​x 100 mm x 100 mm​​​​
​Mass​2300 grams
​Expected lifetime​6 months
​Launch Date​9th Dec 2016
​Orbit​LEO, 400 km altitude, 51.6 degree inclination
​Attitude determination and control system​Permanent magnet, Gyro sensor
​On-board data handling​PIC16LF877A micro controller, UART and I2C data interfaces
​Communications​Down link:  UHF - 437.375 MHz (1200bps)
Up link: VHF - 145 MHz
​Power subsystem​Li-ion battery (1series, 3 parallels, 3.6V, 3200 mAh
​Structure​Al. 7075 chassis, with stainless steel load bearing parts
​Thermal control​Battery heaters​
​Payloads​​Pulsed Plasma Thruster, 2.4 GHz Zigbee module, 3 COTS MCUs​
​Ground segment​Ground station in Kyutech with UHF/VHF high-gain cross Yagi-Uda antennas