Approximately 18 months in space and TshepisoSAT, Africa’s first nanosatellite, is still going strong.

Developed by postgraduate students enrolled in the Satellite Systems Engineering Programme at the French South African Technology Institute (F’SATI), TshepisoSAT is the first nanosatellite to be developed on the African continent.

Engineer Leon Steenkamp, who is monitoring the nanosatellite’s daily movements from the ground station at the Bellville Campus, says the mission is going according to plan.

“The nanosatellite is still working and doing very well,” says Steenkamp.

“We are communicating with it every day and receiving photographs and telemetry (data). It has shown that it can survive in space.”

To date, TshepisoSAT survived the harsh radiation from the sun, extreme temperature fluctuations, a strong solar storm and two close encounters with defunct Russian satellites.

This nanosatellite carries a high-frequency radio beacon that will be used to study the propagation of radio waves thro ugh the ionosphere, providing valuable space weather data to the South African National Space Agency Space Science Directorate.

Steenkamp says they also recently traveled to the United States, where they presented on the progress of the nanosatellite at the 12th Annual CubeSat Developers’ Workshop.

TshepisoSAT’s journey is set to be chronicled by F’SATI Director Prof Robert Van Zyl on Monday when he presents at the Tedx TableMountain event.

Written by Candes Keating
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Provides coverage for the Engineering and Applied Sciences Faculties; the Bellville and Wellington Campuses, and research and innovation news.

Africa’s first nanosatellite, Tshepiso, is proving its worth in space.

During the past three months in orbit, the nanosatellite has survived the harsh radiation from the sun, extreme temperature fluctuations and most recently two close encounters with defunct Russian satellites.

Earlier this month United States Joint Space Operations Centre in California notified the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) that Tshepiso was on close approach with the COSMOS 2151 satellite over Antarctica. COSMOS 2151 was launched in 1991 and weighs a hefty 2 000kg, compared to CPUT’s satellite that weighs 1.2kg and measures 10x10x10cm.

Just two days later, Tshepiso faced another close encounter over Brazil, when the METEOR 2-5 satellite came within 85m of the nanosatellite.

There is nothing that can be done to alter the course or altitude of TshepisoSat as it has no propulsion control. And with the other satellites no longer functioning, they too cannot be controlled.

F’SATI’s Leon Steenkamp, who is monitoring Tshepiso’s daily movements, says during both incidents they were assisted by ground stations at the California Polytechnic State University and the University of Florida in the USA, who were able to listen to signals from Tshepiso during the two periods of close approach.

“The satellite appears unaffected by the two events and is operating as normal,” says Steenkamp.

Developed by F’SATI, the nanosatellite will study the propagation of radio waves through the ionosphere, providing valuable space weather data to the SANSA.

The nanosatellite was designed and built by 40 postgraduate students following the Satellite Systems Engineering Programme offered at F’SATI and was developed in collaboration with SANSA and with funding from the Department of Science and Technology, the National Research Foundation and CPUT.

For more information on the satellite, see www.cput.ac.za/blogs/fsati/

Written by Candes Keating
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Provides coverage for the Engineering and Applied Sciences Faculties; the Bellville and Wellington Campuses, and research and innovation news.

Africa’s first nanosatellite, Tshepiso, has been in space for just over three months and engineers are now preparing for its main mission.

The nanosatellite, developed by F’SATI, carries a high-frequency radio beacon that will be used to study the propagation of radio waves through the ionosphere, providing valuable space weather data to the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) Space Science Directorate.

F’SATI staff member Leon Steenkamp says the team of engineers are set to start the process of deploying the nanosatellite’s main antenna that is connected to the high-frequency radio beacon.

“For the past few weeks we have been gathering information in preparation for the mission. We are checking various things, from the temperature of the device to the battery voltage,” he says.

Since its launch in November, Steenkamp has been keeping a close eye on the nanosatellite and monitoring its daily activities from the F’SATI ground station on the Bellville Campus.

Tshepiso has been orbiting earth up to 15 times a day at an altitude of 600km. It also survived a strong solar storm earlier this year and has already transmitted images of South Africa which graced the pages of newspapers across the city.

PHOTOGRAPH: A picture taken by Tshepiso as it passed over South Africa

The nanosatellite was designed and built by 40 postgraduate students following the Satellite Systems Engineering Programme offered at F’SATI and was developed in collaboration with SANSA and with funding from the Department of Science and Technology, the National Research Foundation and CPUT.

Current postgraduate students are starting work on developing ZACUBE-2, a 3-unit CubeSat measuring 10x10x30 cm and weighing about 4kg.

ZACUBE-2 will be a continuation of the space weather experiment of the current ZACUBE-1(Tshepiso) mission.  

For up-to-date information on Tshepiso’s activities, visit F'SATI's website.

Written by Candes Keating
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Provides coverage for the Engineering and Applied Sciences Faculties; the Bellville and Wellington Campuses, and research and innovation news.