Geoscan-Edelweiss

Main article: Space satellites of countries of the world

Geoskan-Edelweiss is the first private small spacecraft from St. Petersburg.

2023: Gas Propulsion System Orbit Test

Gas the development propulsion system Experimental Design Bureau "Fakel" was tested in orbit as part of the Russian small spacecraft Geoskan-Edelweiss. This was Roskosmos announced on August 21, 2023.

The propulsion system was developed by the company with the support of the Innovation Assistance Fund specifically for CubeSat 3U satellites, and the control board was created by the company's specialists. " During Geoscan the tests, it was necessary to check whether such an engine could work space in flight conditions, and find out how its inclusions would affect the orbit of the spacecraft.

For August 2023, cubsats are becoming more and more popular. After its work in orbit and without taking it away for burial, the cubsat becomes space debris, interfering with the functioning newly withdrawn spacecraft. To avoid this, a highly reliable propulsion system is needed on board the cubsat, which was created by our enterprise. Now the gas propulsion system has a flight history as part of the Geoskan development apparatus, "said Pavel Dronov, chief designer of the Fakel Design Bureau.

In the future, such gas propulsion systems are planned to be used to correct the orbit and reduce cubsats from it after the end of their service life - for the disposal of spent satellites.

2022: Launch from the Baikonur cosmodrome

On August 9, 2022 Baikonur Cosmodrome , 16 small spacecraft of the Space- π educational project were launched as a passing payload when launching a commercial foreign one. satellite The main and associated payloads were launched into target orbits by the Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle and the Fregat upper stage. The simultaneous launch of 16 Russian satellites was a record in history. rocket and space industry Russia

Among the launched small spacecraft is the Geoskan-Edelweiss satellite. This is the first ever private spacecraft from St. Petersburg to enter orbit, noted in the Geoskan company.

The device was developed in 1.5 years and is designed to test the Geoskan-3U satellite platform - the part of the spacecraft that is responsible for power supply, communication and payload control, and also creates conditions for the operation of instruments during space flight. The useful loads are the Elvis GNSS receiver and a gas propulsion system with cylinders filled with nitrogen.

The engine was developed specifically for the CubeSat standard in the Fakel development bureau. These installations are designed to reduce the amount of space debris after the end of the service life. The Geoskan-Edelweiss satellite will show whether the compressed gas engine is suitable for these tasks.

In addition, Geoscan-Edelweiss is intended to:

• conducting educational activities within the framework of the Space- π project;
• interaction with amateur radio operators around the world with a diploma program (the call sign of our cubsat is RS20S);
• flight tests of the gas propulsion system of the CubeSat standard (OKB "Fakel") together with the GNSS receiver of the Elvis company (it determines the coordinates of the position of the device in orbit based on radio signals emitted by satellites of navigation systems).

The device also has a symbolic payload - a silicon plate measuring 10x15 mm. On it, by the method of ion-beam lithography, 22,772 names from all over the world are applied, of which 6,000 are the names of children from the Russian movement of schoolchildren.

The flight-qualified Geoscan 3U satellite platform will be used for educational activities within the framework of the Space- π program "Planet Duty Officer" of the Innovation Assistance Fund. As of August 2022, Geoskan engineers, together with Russian universities, were developing seven CubeSat 1U and 3U form factor spacecraft.