The 1st AAU Satellite
AAU CubeSat
The 1st AAU Satellite
AAU CubeSat
Around 20 years ago, on the 30th of June 2003 the first ever student-built CubeSat from Aalborg University was launched. The satellite was called the AAU CubeSat.
The AAU CubeSat project was initiated in September 2001 with the primary objective of having AAU students develop, construct, and launch a CubeSat through "hands-on" education while providing hands-on experience with satellite technology.
The technical mission of the AAU CubeSat consisted of taking surface images of the Earth, especially over Denmark, via a special camera installed in the satellite.
AAU CubeSat
AAU CubeSat
AAU CubeSat
AAU CubeSat
AAU CubeSat
AAU CubeSat
AAU CubeSat
AAU CubeSat
AAU CubeSat
AAU CubeSat
The AAU CubeSat was launched on the 30th of March in 2003 from Plesetsk in Russia, where it was placed on top of a Russian launch vehicle named "Rockot Launcher".
The AAU CubeSat was operational for approximately 2.5 months before the battery in the satellite was eventually too weak to keep the satellite alive. During this period, only a limited amount of data was retrieved from the satellite, as unfortunately an unknown problem occurred with the satellite's transmitter, which resulted in the satellite only sending very weak signals to Earth.
As a first step in student-built satellites, the AAU CubeSat, despite the challenges, was considered a success, and it has since been followed by five more AAU student built cubesats.
Satellite Facts
Name: AAU CubeSat (AAUSAT1)
Type: CubeSat
Units or mass: 1U
Status: Was operational until 2003-09-22.
Launched: 2003-03-30
NORAD ID: 27846
Deployer: P-POD (Poly-Picosatellite Orbital Deployer)
Launcher: Rokot
Organisation: Aalborg University
Entity: Academic / Education
Nation: Denmark
Launch brokerer: Space Flight Laboratory (UTIAS-SFL)
Oneliner: Educational space systems engineering with ADCS and imaging.
Failure cause: Battery degradation problems.
AAU Space