UNISAT-6

UNISAT-6 Mission Patch
Mission type	Technology demonstration
Operator	GAUSS Srl
COSPAR ID	2014-033C
SATCAT no.	40012
Website	GAUSS Srl page on UniSat-6 mission
Spacecraft properties
Launch mass	26 kg (57 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date	19 June 2014; 9 years ago (2014-06-19)
Rocket	Dnepr
Launch site	Dombarovsky site 13
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Sun Synchronous
Eccentricity	0.005957
Perigee altitude	610 km
Apogee altitude	694 km
Inclination	97.93 °

UniSat-6 is an Italian micro-satellite developed by GAUSS Srl and launched in 2014. The satellite is built in a 0.4x0.4x0.4m box-shaped bus, optimized for piggy-back launch. All instruments are powered by solar cells mounted on the spacecraft body, with maximal electrical power of 11W. The satellite has no on-orbit propulsion; it makes use of an attitude stabilization system based on permanent magnets.^[1]

Launch

UniSat-6 was launched from Dombarovsky (air base) site 13, Russia, on 19 June 2014 by a Dnepr rocket.

Mission

The satellite is intended primarily for technology verification in space, the main test piece being 3 deployment systems loaded with 4 CubeSat satellites, namely AeroCube 6, Lemur 1, ANTELSAT and Tigrisat,^[2] with a total volume 9U. All sub-satellites were deployed 25 hours after achieving orbit, without incidents.^[3]

The satellite is also equipped with an on-board camera to take pictures of the release of the cubesats and for Earth Observation.