The German Flying Laptop satellite, launched on 14 July 2017 on a Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan,[1] hosts the OSIRISv1 laser communications experiment.[2] The satellite has a total mass of 110 kg. It operates at a 600km (400miles) Sun-synchronous orbit with an inclination of 97.6 degrees.[3]
The satellite is part of the Stuttgart Small Satellite Program, a program led by the German Space Agency.
Optical communications tests have been carried out with ground stations in Japan, Europe, and Canada,[4] with a data rate of up to 200 Mbit/s, from orbit to ground only.
The two fixed lasers of OSIRISv1 are aimed at ground stations by 'body pointing', attitude control of the entire satellite, using four reaction wheels.[5] The reaction wheels can be desaturated using three internal magnetorquers.[5]
Flying Laptop carries a de-orbit mechanism called DOM2500 developed by Tohoku University and manufactured by Nakashimada Engineering Works, Ltd., which upon activation will unfurl a sail to increase atmospheric drag.[6] [7] The device will be used at the end of the satellite mission.[8]