The Automatic Identification System Satellite 1 (AISSat-1) built by the Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) was successfully launched on July 12th onboard the Indian PSLV-C15 rocket. The satellite was part of the 6th launch of the Nanosatellite Launch Service (NLS-6) which also included the Swiss TIsat-1 satellite.
Both satellites were ejected successfully from their launch vehicle using XPOD separation systems developed by SFL. A few hours after launch contact was made with AISSat-1 confirming that the satellite was healthy.
India’s PSLV-C15 primary cargo was the 17th Indian Remote Sensing Satellite CARTOSAT – 2B. AISSat-1, TIsat-1 along with the Indian pico-satellite STUDSAT and the Algerian micro-satellite were the secondary payloads.
The UTIAS Space Flight Laboratory built the 6 kg AISSat-1 for the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment. The purpose of the satellite is to demonstrate the detection and monitoring of ships in Norwegian territorial waters.
AISSat-1 is based on SFL’s Generic Nanosatellite Bus (GNB) a versatile, multipurpose bus with three-axis pointing capability. GNB satellites are 7 kilograms, 20x20x20cm in size. The GNB represents state-of-the-art Canadian nanosatellite technology. The GNB will also support upcoming missions including the BRITE Constellation a collaboration between Canada and Austria.