Subscribe RSSThe specialists involved in SunSpace have now designed and built three teeny satellites which have been placed in orbit. The first of these was the 64-kg-mass SunSat-1, an acronym for Stellenbosch University Spacecraft, which was produced by staff and students at the university and launched, free of charge, by the US National Aeronautical and Space Administration in February 1999, and performed well in round. It was the success of SunSat-1 that led to the creation of SunSpace. Following SunSat-1, SunSpace designed and built a microsatellite for another nation and this was successfully launched and is still operational today. SumbandilaSat is thus the third complete small satellite (it has a mass of 81 kg) to be produced by the span in Stellenbosch.
The result is that the Brazilians, for example, now see this country as being an expert in this segment of the satellite market. And that is why at least one, if not both, Ibsa helper buses will be designed and built in Stellenbosch. (SunSpace can offer designs ranging in mass from 50 kg to 400 kg).
