Eyesat-1

Eyesat-1 is an American experimental communications microsatellite with an store-dump payload. The mission of Eyesat-1 was experimental monitoring of mobile industrial equipment. Eyesat-1 has provided the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Silver Spring, Maryland, with communication services to the South Pole. Eyesat-1 carries an FM repeater for Amateur Radio Research and Development Corporation (AMRAD) called AMRAD OSCAR 27 or OSCAR 27.[2]

Eyesat-1 / AMRAD OSCAR 27
Mission typeAmateur radio satellite
OperatorAMRAD
COSPAR ID1993-061C
SATCAT no.22825[1]
WebsiteAO27.net
Mission durationElasped:
30 years and 29 days
Spacecraft properties
BusMicrosat
ManufacturerInterferometrics Inc.
Launch mass11.8 kg (26 lb)
Dimensions15 cm × 15 cm × 15 cm (5.9 in × 5.9 in × 5.9 in)
Start of mission
Launch date26 September 1993, 01:45 UTC[2]
RocketAriane-40 V59
Launch siteKourou ELA-2
ContractorArianespace
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric
RegimeLow Earth
Eccentricity0.00202[2]
Perigee altitude794 km (493 mi)[2]
Apogee altitude823 km (511 mi)[2]
Inclination98.5°[2]
Period101 minutes[2]
Epoch26 September 1993[2]
 

Eyesat-1 was launched on September 26, 1993 with an Ariane 4 rocket at Guiana Space Centre, Kourou, French Guiana, along with SPOT-3, Stella, Healthsat-2, KITSAT-2, Itamsat and PoSAT-1.

After 19 years of operation, the satellite suffered a bus failure on December 5, 2012. This failure caused the high level software to lockup. Several years were spent trying to work around the problem but a solution was not found.

In early 2020, the satellite was recovered by writing a new operating system in 80186 assembly that could work around the bus failure, and its FM repeater became intermittently operational.[3]

As of 19-April-2023 AO-27 is still working.[4]

Frequencies

References
  1. n2yo.com. "EYESAT 1". Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  2. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. "EYESAT 1". NSSDCA Master Catalog. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  3. "AO-27 Returns from the Dead". AMSAT. 24 May 2020. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  4. "AO-27 Status". AO27.net. 19 April 2023.


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