NTU Singapore’s 9th satellite successfully deployed in space

Nanyang Technological University scientists has successfully launched and deployed NTU's ninth satellite into space on Friday, January 18. The nanosatellite was jointly built by NTU and Kyushu Institute of Technology, will test two new technologies which could pave the way forward for future lunar exploration missions.

The AOBA VELOX-IV and SPATIUM-I (which was launched last October) are nanosatellites trialling new imaging and manoeuvring technologies in space. The NTU scientists plan to use their findings to build satellites robust enough to withstand what would be Singapore’s first lunar mission.

The scientists believe that a lunar mission may be achievable within five years, using satellites weighing no more than 100kg each, which would be lighter than any other that has made the 384,400-kilometre journey.

NTU’s 8th and 9th satellites were built in collaboration with Kyushu Institute of Technology (Kyutech), one of Japan’s leading universities for satellite research and engineering.

The AOBA VELOX-IV nanosatellite was launched from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Epsilon-4 rocket, which lifted off last Friday, 18 January, at 8:50 am Singapore time.

The 2.8kg satellite carries two new technologies that will be tested and validated in space. First is a special low-light camera that can capture and observe in less than two seconds Earth’s horizon glow, a crescent of light occurring on the horizon just before sunrise and after sunset.

Its second new technology is a quad-jet plasma thruster that helps the satellite with altitude control, such as when it enters a lunar orbit.
 
The SPATIUM-I which stands for Space Precision Atomic-click Timing Utility Mission, was launched from the International Space Station (ISS) in October last year and is currently completing its first phase of experiments.

The 2.6 kg satellite is the first nanosatellite in the world to successfully demonstrate a chip scale atomic clock (CSAC) working in Low Earth Orbit. This demonstrates that the ‘Built-at-NTU’ atomic clock keeps time with a stability of 0.2 billionths in a second, on a par with satellites a thousand times bigger.

Such precision timing devices, which are critical to make on-board electronics function in synchronicity, are usually not found on smaller satellites due to limited space, low power supply and high cost.

The SPATIUM-I is also the first in a planned series of nanosatellites built by NTU that will map out earth’s ionosphere in three-dimension (3D). This will allow NTU scientists to understand the ionospheric morphology and its perturbations that have a pronounced effect on long-distance radio communications, navigation and weather patterns.