TET-1 | |
Mission Type: | Technology |
Operator: | DLR |
Cospar Id: | 2012-039D |
Manufacturer: | Kayser-Threde GmbH |
Launch Date: | UTC[1] |
Launch Site: | Baikonur 31/6 |
Last Contact: | 17 November 2022 |
Decay Date: | 18 November 2022 |
Orbit Reference: | Geocentric |
Orbit Regime: | Low Earth |
Apsis: | gee |
TET-1 (German: Technologieerprobungsträger 1, Technology Experiment Carrier) was a microsatellite operated by the German Space Operations Center of the German Aerospace Center. It was the centre of the OOV (On Orbit Verification) Program, initiated to offer on-orbit verification possibilities to the German industrial and scientific aerospace community.[2] TET was based on the satellite bus used for the BIRD satellite, which was launched in 2001.[3]
The main contractor for Phase A (feasibility) was IABG. The final contract for Phases B, C, and D (definition/qualification, and production) and start was given to Kayser-Threde GmbH, a medium-sized aerospace company based in Munich belonging to the German OHB-System group. The environmental qualification was successfully conducted in the IABG space simulation centre in Munich.
TET-1 was carried to orbit as a secondary payload on a Soyuz-FG/Fregat carrier rocket which was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on 22 July 2012.[1] The primary payload of the launch was the Kanopus-V1 satellite, with the BelKA-2, Zond-PP and exactView-1 satellites also flying on the same rocket.
After 10 years in orbit, the TET-1 satellite re-entered into the atmosphere on 18 November 2022.[4]