| ISTSat-1 | |
| Mission Type: | ADS-B |
| Operator: | Instituto Superior Técnico |
| Cospar Id: | 2024-128D |
| Satcat: | 60238 |
| Mission Duration: | 1 Year |
| Spacecraft Type: | CubeSat |
| Manufacturer: | IST NanosatLab |
| Dimensions: | 10 cm x 10 cm x 10.3 cm (1U) |
| Launch Date: | UTC (21:00 CEST) |
| Launch Rocket: | Ariane 6 |
| Launch Site: | Guiana Space Centre, ELA-4 |
| Orbit Reference: | Geocentric orbit |
| Orbit Regime: | Low Earth orbit |
| Orbit Periapsis: | 575.6 km |
| Orbit Apoapsis: | 590.3 km |
| Orbit Inclination: | 62.0 ° |
| Orbit Period: | 96.2 minutes |
| Insignia: | ISTsat-1 logo.jpg |
The ISTSat-1 is a Portuguese nanosatellite developed by students and researchers of the Instituto Superior Técnico (University of Lisbon), that was launched into orbit on 9 July 2024, aboard the Ariane 6 maiden flight.[1] [2] [3] The project is part of the European Space Agency's "Fly Your Satellite!" programme. It is the third Portuguese satellite in space, after the PoSAT-1 and the AEROS MH-1, and the first to have been entirely designed and built in Portugal.[4] [5]
The ISTSat-1 is a CubeSat developed to optimise and complement aircraft surveillance systems by demonstrating the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) aircraft detection technology in orbit.[6] Its mission lifetime is expected to be 12 months.