Engineering:PicoDragon

Short description: Vietnamese CubeSat

PicoDragon

Three CubeSat deployed by the Small Satellite Orbital Deployer (SSOD) as seen from the International Space Station. (From left: PicoDragon, ArduSat-1 and ArduSat-X.)
Mission type	Technology Reconnaissance
Operator	Vietnam National Satellite Center
Website	[1] Website of VNSC about Pico Dragon
Mission duration	Success and operation in 3 month in the space
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type	1U Cubesat
Manufacturer	VNSC
Launch mass	1 kilogram (2.2 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date	2:48 6/8/2013 UTC+7
Rocket	Kounotori
Launch site	Tanegashima
Deployed from	ISS
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Inclination	51.6 degrees

PicoDragon is a small satellite that followed the 1U type of CubeSat program built by the Vietnam National Satellite Center (VNSC) which belongs to VAST and operated in space for 3 months.

It was the first product to be built in Vietnam in the space technology field. The target for this project is to co-operate in space technology development between Vietnam and Japan. It is also the first Vietnamese satellite to launch successfully to space. Before the launch of PicoDragon, there had been 4 satellites launched into orbit: VNREDSat 1A, F-1, Vinasat-1 and Vinasat-2 although F-1 failed upon its launch. Vinasat-1, Vinasat-2, VNREDSat 1A were all built by foreign partners or companies.

Specifications

• Size: 10 by 10 by 11.35 centimetres (3.94 in × 3.94 in × 4.47 in)
• Weight: 0.983 kilograms (2.17 lb)
• Time operating: About 3 months
• Orbit
  • High: 410 kilometres (250 mi)
  • Inclination: 51.6 degrees
• Senses devices:
  • CMOS camera (640 × 480 dpi) to take picture about Earth
• Contact by wireless link
  • Broadcast station frequency about 437.250 MHz
  • Telemetry downlink 1k2 bit/s AFSK 800 mW AX.25 about 437.365 MHz
  • Very high frequency uplink use for control.

Journey

At 2:48 AM (00), 4 August 2013, PicoDragon was successfully launched to the ISS via the transport spacecraft HTV-4, followed by ArduSat-1, ArduSat-X, TechEdSat-3 of United States and Kirobo robot of Japan, all of which were launched at Tanegashima by Kounotori of Japan. Before its placement into orbit from the ISS, it was held back for additional checks.

PicoDragon was a 1U CubeSat project designed for low resolution Earth imagery and to test on-board systems.

On 19 November 2013 (Vietnamese time), PicoDragon was launched into orbit by the ISS. 4 hours after the launch, the first signals of PicoDragon were successfully received by the ground station in Japan. After that, VNSC's ground station also received signals from PicoDragon. After more than 3 months in orbit, PicoDragon - Vietnam's first microsatellite completed the mission and burned upon atmospheric entry back to Earth.

Future

PicoDragon's mission has been deemed sufficient, and in its 3-month orbit, it transmitted an advertising signal "PicoDragon Vietnam" (PicoDragon Việt Nam) to ground-based radio stations.

According to professor Pham Anh Tuan, director of VNSC, after PicoDragon, Vietnam will build more satellites with larger sizes (10 kilograms (22 lb) in 2015 and 50 kilograms (110 lb) in 2017) and will launch a 500 kilograms (1,100 lb) satellite to observe the Earth from space in 2020.