FN 1A (HummerSat 1A)

Spacecraft nº:

Chinese spacecraft nº: 196

Launch data: Designation  38998 / 12064B Launch date  18 Nov 2012 - 22:53 UT Launch site  Taiyuan, LC-9 Launch vehicle  CZ-2C Mission  Gov.: Technological experiments LEO Earth orbit: Perigee / Apogee  488 x 500 km Eccentricity  8,74E-04 Inclination  97.35 deg Period  94.49 min

Spacecraft data:

Description:

• The mission of the FN (Fengniao, HummerSat) spacecrafts is to demonstrate new minisat technologies for formation flying.
• The HummerSat-1 mission consist of a minisatellite, called FN-1 or HummerSat-1 with a launch mass of about 160 kg, as the principal spacecraft of the formation. In addition to the minisatellite HummerSat-1, there is a microsatellite, called FN-1A ( or HummerSat-1A) with a mass of about 30 kg. FN-1A will be mounted on FN-1 at launch and will be deployed in orbit to form a two-spacecraft formation with the mother spacecraft. Both spacecraft are in contact with a crosslink for information exchange and the enactment of required orbit maneuvers. However, all ground communications with the formation is only via the mother spacecraft.
• The goal of the FN-1 mission is to:
  • Demonstrate the newly developed CAST-mini bus and CAST-micro bus designs in space, in particular to validate their functional capabilities and technologies introduced
  • Demonstrate the capability of close formation flying technologies such as: relative navigation, guidance and control, intersatellite crosslink, and command.

Mission details:

• Together with the 890 kg HJ-1C satellite, the CZ-2C rocket deployed two small payloads: Xinyan-1, and 'fengniao shiyan zaihe' (Hummingbird experimental payload), Fengniao-1 or FN-1 for short.
  FN-1 consists of the 130 kg FN-1A and the 30 kg FN-1B, which will later separate for formation flying experiments.

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