| TUGSAT-1 | |
| Mission Type: | Astronomy |
| Operator: | Graz University of Technology |
| Cospar Id: | 2013-009F |
| Satcat: | 39091 |
| Mission Duration: | Elapsed: |
| Spacecraft Bus: | GNB |
| Manufacturer: | University of Toronto |
| Launch Date: | UTC |
| Launch Rocket: | PSLV-CA C20 |
| Launch Site: | Satish Dhawan FLP |
| Launch Contractor: | ISRO UTIAS |
| Orbit Epoch: | 8 November 2013, 11:26:32 UTC[1] |
| Orbit Reference: | Geocentric |
| Orbit Regime: | Low Earth |
| Orbit Periapsis: | 776km (482miles) |
| Orbit Apoapsis: | 790km (490miles) |
| Orbit Inclination: | 98.62 degrees |
| Orbit Period: | 100.37 minutes |
| Apsis: | gee |
TUGSAT-1, also known as BRITE-Austria and CanX-3B, is the first Austrian satellite. It is an optical astronomy spacecraft operated by the Graz University of Technology as part of the international BRIght-star Target Explorer programme.
TUGSAT-1 was manufactured by the University of Toronto based on the Generic Nanosatellite Bus, and had a mass at launch of [2] (plus another 7 kg for the XPOD separation system). The spacecraft is cube-shaped, with each side measuring .[3] The satellite will be used, along with five other spacecraft, to conduct photometric observations of stars with apparent magnitude of greater than 4.0 as seen from Earth.[4] TUGSAT-1 was one of the first two BRITE satellites to be launched, along with the Austro-Canadian UniBRITE-1 spacecraft. Four more satellites, two Canadian and two Polish, were launched at later dates.
The TUGSAT-1 spacecraft was launched through the University of Toronto's Nanosatellite Launch System programme, as part of the NLS-8 launch, along with UniBRITE-1 and AAUSAT3.[5] The NLS-8 launch was subcontracted to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), who placed the satellites into orbit using a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) in the PSLV-CA configuration, flying from the First Launch Pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre.[6] The NLS spacecraft were secondary payloads on the rocket, whose primary mission was to deploy the Franco-Indian SARAL ocean research satellite. Canada's Sapphire and NEOSSat-1 spacecraft, and the United Kingdom's STRaND-1, were also carried by the same rocket under separate launch contracts.[2] The launch took place at 12:31 UTC on 25 February 2013, and the rocket deployed all of its payloads successfully.[7]