Yubileiny-1 (or Yubileyniy), also referred to as RS-30 (Radio Sputnik-30) by the amateur community, is a Russian technology development microsatellite which was designed and built jointly by the JSC-ISS (Joint Stock Company-Information Satellite Systems), named after academician M. F. Reshetnev (formerly NPO-PM) of Zheleznogorsk, along with the Siberian State Aerospace University (SibSAU) of Krasnoyarsk to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik-1 (launch Oct. 4, 1957), the first artificial satellite to be placed into Earth orbit. 1) 2) 3)
The objectives of the educational mission are:
• The satellite will broadcast audio and video about the history of the Soviet and Russian space programs, as well as signals imitating those broadcast by Sputnik in 1957 (voice messages, SSTV slides, signal imitation of the first artificial Earth satellite)
• It will help to establish conditions under which the Russian universities could study the data transmitted by the small satellite
• It will help to carry out science and technology experiments: Prospective sun and Earth sensors flight proficiency; receiving data related to the Earth's planetary emission within infrared wavelength band; study of spatio-temporal emissions of the Earth atmosphere day and night radiation within visible spectral range.
Background: In December 2004, the Russian Federal Space Agency (FSA, Roskosmos), Space Forces of Ministry of Defense and Army, Air Force and Navy assistance society (AAN AS) came to the decision to create a jubilee radio amateur satellite and launch it in 2007 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the space era. The aerospace vehicle laboratory (Russia, Kaluga) was entrusted with creation of the satellite. 4) 5)
Russian space companies and organizations contributed a lot to creation of the Yubileiny spacecraft. In particular, the NPP Geofizika-Cosmos company created the satellite’s sun and Earth sensors, the Saturn Company developed and built the solar arrays, Lavochkin NPO provided the gallium arsenide cells, the Ramensk instrument building company created a small magnetometer MA-6. SibSAU (Siberian State Aerospace University) research workers and students developed RADEK - devices covered with recently developed nano-coatings to protect the spacecraft electronic components against radiation impact.
Figure 1: Artist's view of the deployed Yubileiny microsatellite (image credit: JSC-ISS)
The spacecraft structure features a hexagonal frame (bus, instrument module) consisting of three lateral webs (or trays): top, bottom and central trays. The outer panels of the bus are covered with surface-mounted solar cells. The onboard equipment is installed inside the instrument module as well on the outer surface of the top tray. The top tray of the microsatellite is nadir-pointing during nominal operations.
The top tray is equipped with attitude control system devices, in particular, magnetometer and diagonal balancing booms, communication antennas and research equipment including three Earth sensors to receive data on the Earth’s planetary emission within infrared wavelength. In addition, spatio-temporal observations of Earth's atmosphere are being conducted within the visible range.
The bottom tray of the spacecraft contains a deployable gravity gradient boom to provide passive stabilization to the satellite. The tip mass of the boom contains a magnetometer. In addition, bottom tray features the navigation antenna, experimental sun sensors, and the RADEK payload.
Table 1: Main parameters of the Yubileiny microsatellite
Figure 2: Photo of the Yubileiny spacecraft (image credit: JSC-ISS)
Note: The launch was delayed from the end of 2007, and from earlier in 2008. Yubileiny was a secondary payload to a cluster of three primary satellites, Gonet [(Messenger), military S/C, referred to as Kosmos-2437, 2438 and 2439], utilizing the excess capacity of the carrier rocket.
Orbit: Near-circular orbit, apogee = 1510 km, perigee = 1480 km, inclination = 82.5º, period = 115.8 minutes.
• The spacecraft (RS-30, Yubileiny-1) is operational in 2012. 7)
- The monitor and control function is performed by the Satellite Control Center formed in SibSAU with the JSC -ISS participation (Ref. 3).
• In 2009, the data are being received by the students’ Satellite Control Center established at SibSAU, on a daily basis.
• According to information from NPO PM, the DOKA-B equipment took control over the spacecraft shortly after the deployment. Within 4 days after launch, a stable orientation mode was reached.
Sensor complement: (RADEK)
RADEK (Research of radiation shields efficiency at radiation effects of the Earth Van Allen belts, the Sun and the space)
The RADEK device was developed by SibSAU. The objective is to test nano-coatings protect the electronic spacecraft components against the radiation impacts.
During the full-scale tests the following tasks have been performed:
• switch-on of the RADEK device electronic microcircuits sensitive to the accumulated dose during the “Yubileyniy” satellite flight
• fixing the voltage of microcircuits zero bias depending on the accumulated dose, with the subsequent telemetry transmission
• analysis of the data received by telemetry and assessment by calculation methods of the application efficiency for the nano-coatings under tests intended for the radiation effects protection
• layout of the coatings’ nano-materials structure physical models and elaboration on their basis of recommendations on coatings’ composition optimization and application technology
• assessment of the reliability and sufficiency of technologies used for coatings evaporation during use of electronic elements packages protected from the radiation effects. The telemetry data from the equipment are received, processed and stored in the SibSAU students’ Satellite Control Center (Ref. 3).
1) A. I. Sukhinin, E. A. Yurikova, A. V. Yakovlev, V. E. Kosenko, “Application of the Small Sattellites Systems for the Environmental Control,” Proceedings of the IAA Symposium on Small Satellite Systems and Services (4S), Rhodes, Greece, May 26-30, 2008, ESA SP-660, August 2008
2) Viktor Kosenko, Vasiliy Popov, Sergey Galochkin, Andrey Yakovlev, Evgenia Yurikova, Kirill Okhotkin, Igor Kartzan, Anatoly Sukhinin, “Application of the microsatellites for remote sensing woods of Siberia,” Proceedings of the 7th IAA Symposium on Small Satellites for Earth Observation, Berlin, Germany, May 4-7, 2009, IAA-B7-0239P
3) Yury Loginov, Sergey Galochkin, Andrey Yakovlev, Mikhail Valov, Igor Kartsan, Kirill Okhotkin, “Siberian Scientific and Educational Program of Development, Creation and Application of Microsatellites Series,” Proceedings of the 4S (Small Satellites Systems and Services) Symposium, Portoroz, Slovenia, June 4-8, 2012
4) “Yubileiny is a next generation small satellite,” Reshetnev Company, March 2008, pp. 16-18, URL: http://www.iss-reshetnev.com/images/File/magazin/2008/m3-screen_en.pdf
6) “Yubileiny is in orbit,” URL: http://www.iss-reshetnev.com/images/File/magazin/2008/m4-screen_en.pdf
The information compiled and edited in this article was provided by Herbert J. Kramer from his documentation of: ”Observation of the Earth and Its Environment: Survey of Missions and Sensors” (Springer Verlag) as well as many other sources after the publication of the 4th edition in 2002. - Comments and corrections to this article are always welcome for further updates.