SUNSAT
Sign in to saveThe Stellenbosch UNiversity SATellite or SUNSAT (COSPAR 1999-008C) was the first miniaturized satellite designed and manufactured in South Africa. It was launched aboard a Delta II rocket from the Vandenberg Air Force Base on 23 February 1999 to become the first launched South African satellite. Sunsat was built by post-graduate engineering students at the University of Stellenbosch. Its AMSAT designation was SO-35 (Sunsat Oscar 35).
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- artificial satellite of the Earth
- Significant event
- rocket launch
Show 3 more facts
- UTC date of spacecraft launch
- 1999-02-23
- space launch vehicle
- Delta II
- start point
- Vandenberg Space Launch Complex 2
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Encyclopedic overview
3 sectionsContents
- Specifications
- Pushboom imager
- References
The Stellenbosch UNiversity SATellite or SUNSAT (COSPAR 1999-008C) was the first miniaturized satellite designed and manufactured in South Africa. It was launched aboard a Delta II rocket from the Vandenberg Air Force Base on 23 February 1999 to become the first launched South African satellite. Sunsat was built by post-graduate engineering students at the University of Stellenbosch. Its AMSAT designation was SO-35 (Sunsat Oscar 35).
Last contact by ground control with SUNSAT was on 19 January 2001 and on 1 February 2001 the end of SUNSAT's functional life in orbit was announced. The satellite operated in orbit for nearly 2 years.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “SUNSAT” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.