Near Earth Object Surveillance Satellite

The project NEOSSat (Near Earth Object Surveillance Satellite, German: Near-Earth Object Surveillance Satellite) is a Canadian co-operation between the Canadian Space Agency CSA and DRDC research institution of the Canadian Department of Defense, and the University of Calgary. Manufacturer of the satellite is the company Microsat Systems Canada. NEOSSat is Canada's second Space Telescope, according to MOST, which is already in orbit since 2003 and is still active. Originally the launch was planned for spring 2010, due to delays it was on February 25, 2013 at 12:31 UTC with a PSLV rocket from the launch pad No. 1 of the Indian Satish Dhawan Space Centre on the island of Sriharikota, along with fellow Canadian Sapphire, the Indian SARAL the Austrian TUGSAT 1 and UniBRITE, the British beach 1 and the Danish AAUSAT started.

Mission

The aim of the mission is to near-Earth asteroids and other missiles that come dangerously close to the earth, to discover, track and catalog. Furthermore, the new micro- satellite technology is to be tested, which allows thus to build satellites and probes smaller and cheaper. The satellite is in a Low Earth Orbit (LEO ) at an altitude of about 650 km. Thus, the satellite will orbit every 100 minutes completely the earth. The planned mission duration is at least one year. The satellite is controlled by the CSA Satellite Control Center in Canada.

Construction

NEOSSat is the first micro- satellite on the new Multi - Mission bus of the CSA -built satellite. It has a weight of 74 kg, and dimensions of 1 m x 0.4 m x 0.8 m with solar cells. The immensely expensive start-up costs can be drastically reduced. The power consumption is about 35-50 W. The satellite also provided with a gyro system, star tracker, sun sensor, magnetometer and an adapted F/6-Maksutov-Teleskop is equipped with a mirror diameter of 15 cm. The satellite will cost about 12 million Canadian dollars.