Tags: Clyde Space, United Kingdom, Satellite Launch, CubeSat, Scotland
Publication: HerdaldScotland.com
Publication Date: 12/20/2012

Artist’s impression of UKube-1. Image credit: Clyde Space

Scotland’s first satellite will be launched from a Russian Soyuz-2 rocket next March. The UKube-1 spacecraft, designed and manufactured by Clyde Space, is a nanosatellite with payloads for measuring plasmaspheric space weather, testing the effects of radiation on space hardware, and for Earth observation.

UKube-1 is currently undergoing the final tests before being shipped to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. This is the first nanosatellite produced by Clyde Space; the company plans to build more in the coming years.

The project is part of a UK Space Agency mission, making UKube-1 the pilot test for a collaborative CubeSat program for the industry and academia to perform education projects and research, and test new technologies. The overall mission cost is approximately $1.3 million and it will be supported by three UK ground stations at Strathclyde and Dundee universities.

To accomplish its objectives UKube-1 carries a GPS device, a camera and a new generation imaging sensor. The satellite also has an “outreach” payload, which will allow schoolchildren to interact with it from Earth.

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