NSU Successfully Launches Second Satellite

On June 27 at 14:24 Moscow time the NORBI-2 CubeSat 6U was launched fr om the “Vostochny” cosmodrome on a Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle with a Fregat upper stage. The hydrometeorological spacecraft "Meteor-M" No. 2-3 was put into orbit along with 42 small satellites, including an NSU satellite. Contact was made with the satellite at the first accessible opportunity.

Vitaly Prokopyev, Head of the NSU Aerospace Research Section (ARS NSU), talked about the event,

This was our second satellite launched into orbit. Both devices were developed at the NSU Joint Laboratory for Small Satellites. The laboratory was established in 2019 together with our industrial partner the Experimental Design Bureau “Fifth Generation”. Our cooperation has resulted in a number of successful projects. In 2019, we completed the development of a modular satellite platform in the CubeSat format and in 2020, the NORBI-1 CubeSat 6U satellite was designed on the basis of this platform. This is currently operating and has been in orbit for more than 1000 days. Our next project is the NORBI-2 satellite.

The satellite payload is equipped with the SOL solar telescope developed by the Space Research Institute SB RAS in cooperation with Orbital Systems LLC. The task of the telescope is to get an image of the Sun in the vacuum ultraviolet range (VUV) of the solar spectrum. This is wh ere the main radiation of the solar corona is formed and active solar processes take place. These observations are being conducted for Russia’s Roshydromet.

Another objective is to develop elements of satellite Internet of Things (IoT) technology. The NSU "Cognitive Engineering" Advanced Engineering School is responsible for this project. Flight tests of the onboard IoT module are conducted jointly with the School’s industrial partner RESHETNEV JSC.

NORBI-2, like the first NORBI-1 apparatus, was launched as part of the Roscosmos State Corporation Universat program. This program is aimed at supporting Russian universities that are developing and building small satellites for government customers.