PEGASUS NEE-01

Ecuadorian Civilian Space Agency
Pegasus NEE-01

On April 4, 2011 the Ecuadorian Civilian Space Agency, EXA, unveiled the first Ecuadorian satellite, the NEE-01 Pegasus. Pegasus is a 3U CubeSat with two deployable solar panels and EXA say 28.8 amps can be generated. There is an onboard camera to send live video from space and a beacon that will send an ID and Ecuador’s national anthem.
One of the satellites objectives is to serve as a space platform for elementary education. The satellite will send two signals that will be received and decoded by the EXA’s HERMES-A ground station in Guayaquil and then uploaded live to the Internet using Twitter and Facebook.
The first signal will contain text book questions and the second will contain an image related to the question. If the students are able to answer the question correctly they will be granted access to the video camera onboard the spacecraft and will be able to see earth from space as the astronauts see it in their space missions.
More advanced students will have access to the pure radio signal so they can try decoding it by themselves. The EXA will provide them with the appropriate support software free of charge.

NASA-Catalog: 39151

Downlink

910 MHz

Status

NEE-01 PEGASO will be launched from China in a LongMarch-2D (LM-2D LV) on April 26th, 2013, together with two other cubesats (NEE-01 Pegaso and Turksat) and the main payload. The Launch window starts at 04:13 UTC.

BBC News is reporting that at 0538 UT on Thursday, May 23 Ecuador’s new NEE-01 Pegasus 910 MHz CubeSat collided with debris from a S14 Soviet rocket launched in 1985. The satellite was some 1,500 km east of Madagascar at the time of the impact. Pegasus, launched less than a month ago, is the first 1U CubeSat to carry a HD TV transmitter and deployable solar panels. The basic satellite is just 10 by 10 by 10 cm but, when deployed, the solar panels have a span of 70 cm. Ronnie Nader with Elisse Nader and CubeSat Ecuador’s first Astronaut Ronnie Nader is quoted as saying “Pegasus could be damaged or spinning out of control, but because it’s still in orbit, we have hope“. He had said earlier that it could take up to 48 hours to ascertain possible damage using radar. Read the BBC News story at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-22635671

May 23, 0700 UT: Ronnie Nader posted “Survived the event, but we are almost 
                 sure of side impact with particles, tomorrow [May 23 ECT?] 
                 we will see the state of Pegasus, but we are still in the sky, 
                 still have Pegasus”.
May 23, 1600 UT: Ronnie Nader tweeted “Now we are sure that there [was] 
                 particle impact“.

Mission

Primary mission: National Technology testing

  • Survive the LEO space environment and transmit telemetry for at least a year
  • Transmit live video feed from orbit and On-Screen telemetry
  • Test the Space Environment Attenuation Manifold NEMEA
  • Test the passive release/deploy technology on multi phase nano solar arrays
  • Test the high energy generation technology for small spacecrafts
  • Test the ARGOS-MINOTAUR hyper amplification matrix

Secondary Mission: Space based education platform

  • Serve as space based education platform for elementary levels
  • Demonstrate the benefits of an education satellite
  • Inspire the need for research and self education in the young population
  • Transmit the Ecuador’s national anthem from space

The satellite’s primary mission is to test the basic and key technologies that will allow the EXA to build bigger and more powerful spacecrafts in the future and the secondary mission is to serve as an space platform for elementary education: The satellite will send two signals that will be received and decoded by the EXA’s HERMES-A ground station in Guayaquil and then uploaded live to the Internet using Twitter and Facebook; the first signal will contain text book questions and the second will contain an image related to the question. If the students are able to answer the question correctly they will be granted access to the video camera on board the spacecraft and will be able to see earth from space as the astronauts see it in their space missions. More advanced students will have access to the pure radio signal so they can try decoding it by themselves.

Homepage und weitere Informationen

http://exa.ec/bp37/index-en.htmlhttp://pegaso.exa.ec/http://minotaur.exa.ec/