Orbiting Picosat Automatic Launcher (also known as OPAL-OSCAR 38, SQUIRT 2 and OO-38) is an American technology testing and amateur radio satellite that was developed by students at the Space Systems Development Laboratory at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. The aim was to test the feasibility of launching several picosatellites from one parent satellite. The satellite's secondary payloads are an accelerometer testbed and a magnetometer testbed, which will perform component characterization. The main satellite ejected 6 nanosatellites in orbit (MEMS 1A, MEMS 1B, STENSAT, MASAT (JAK), Artemis-Thelma and Artemis-Louise). The development started in 1995 and was completed in May 1999.^[1]

OPAL was launched on January 27, 2000 together with JAWSAT with a Minotaur I rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.^[2]

External links

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Report - Stanford University

References

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^ eoPortal.org. "OPAL". Retrieved 15 Feb 2020.
^ NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. "Orbiting Picosat Automatic Launcher". NSSDCA Master Catalog. Retrieved 15 Feb 2020.

v t e ← 1999 Orbital launches in 2000 2001 →
January	USA-148 Galaxy 10R Feng Huo 1 JAWSAT, FalconSAT-1, ASUSat-1, OCSE, OPAL (STENSAT, MEMS 1A, MEMS 1B, MASAT, Thelma, Louise)
February	Progress M1-1 Kosmos 2369 Hispasat 1C Globalstar 60, Globalstar 62, Globlastar 63, Globalstar 64 Gruzovoy Maket, IRDT-1 ASTRO-E STS-99 Garuda 1 Superbird-B2
March	Ekspress A2 MTI ICO F1 Dumsat INSAT-3B, AsiaStar IMAGE
April	Soyuz TM-30 SESAT 1 Galaxy 4R Progress M1-2
May	GOES 11 Kosmos 2370 USA-149 USA-150 SimSat 1, SimSat 2 STS-101 Eutelsat W4
June	Gorizont No.45L TSX-5 Ekspress A3 Fengyun 2B, Nadezhda 6, Tsinghua 1, SNAP-1 TDRS-8 Sirius FM-1
July	Kosmos 2371 Zvezda EchoStar VI CHAMP, MITA, Rubin-1 USA-151 Samba, Salsa Sindri (MEMS 2A, MEMS 2B) PAS-9
August	Progress M1-3 Rumba, Tango Brazilsat B4, Nilesat 102 USA-152 DM-F3 Globus No.16L
September	Zi Yuan 2 Sirius FM-2 Eutelsat W1 STS-106 Astra 2B GE-7 NOAA-16 Kosmos 2372 Megsat 1, Unisat 1, Saudisat 1A, Saudisat 1B, TiungSAT-1 Kosmos 2373
October	GE-1A N-SAT-110 HETE-2 STS-92 (ITS Z1, PMA-3) Kosmos 2374, Kosmos 2375, Kosmos 2376 Progress M-43 USA-153 Thuraya 1 GE-6 Europe*Star 1 Beidou 1A Soyuz TM-31
November	USA-154 PAS-1R, AMSAT-P3D, STRV 1C, STRV 1D Progress M1-4 QuickBird-1 EO-1, SAC-C, Munin Anik F1 Sirius FM-3
December	STS-97 (ITS P6) EROS A USA-155 Astra 2D, GE-8, LDREX Beidou 1B Gonets-D1 No.7, Gonets-D1 No.8, Gonets-D1 No.9, Strela-3 No.125, Strela-3 No.126, Strela-3 No.127
Launches are separated by dots ( • ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).