An ISC Kosmotras Dnepr carrier rocket has launched eight satellites into Low Earth orbit. The rocket lifted off from Dombarovsky in southern Russia at 07:12 UTC. The primary payload of this, the seventeenth Dnepr launch, was Ukraine’s SICH-2 remote sensing satellite.
Six other satellites were launched aboard the same launch vehicle. These are NigeriaSat-2, NigeriaSat X, RASAT (Turkey), EDUSAT (Italy) and AprizeSat-5 & 6 (US).
The EduSAT spacecraft, which will be operated by the Sapienza University of Rome, is a technology demonstration nanosatellite, which will test solar cells, a transponder, and techniques for deorbiting spacecraft. It also carries a scientific payload to measure the flux density of solar radiation, study Earth’s magnetic field, and to measure incident cosmic particles and rays.
Its downlink will operate under an Italian Telecommunications Ministry experimental licence on 435.750 MHz. The GMSK data rates are 9.6 kbit/s in downlink and 1.2 kbit/s in uplink. In addition, a back-up S-band channel may be used with a downlink rates of 38.8 kbit/s.
There are no PocketQubs inside EduSat but they will test the release mechanism (without any objects).
NORAD Catalog numbers are 37788 to 37797