AAU CubeSat was a CubeSat

CubeSat

A CubeSat is a type of miniaturized satellite for space research that usually has a volume of exactly one liter , has a mass of no more than 1.33 kilograms, and typically uses commercial off-the-shelf electronics components...

 built and operated by students from Aalborg University in Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

. AAU CubeSat was launched on 30 June 2003 from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome

Plesetsk Cosmodrome

Plesetsk Cosmodrome is a Russian spaceport, located in Arkhangelsk Oblast, about 800 km north of Moscow and approximately 200 km south of Arkhangelsk.-Overview:...

 on a Russian "Rockot

Rockot

The Rokot , also transliterated as a the pun Rockot, is a Russian space launch vehicle that can launch a payload of 1,950 kilograms into a 200 kilometre high Earth orbit with 63° inclination. It is a derivative of the UR-100N intercontinental ballistic missile , supplied and operated by Eurockot...

" rocket

Rocket

A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction...

.

The satellite was alive for two and a half months, during which some data was received on Earth; however, it was never possible to establish a solid communication link. It is thought that there was a problem with the on-board transmitter.

Mechanics

The aluminum frame was milled from a solid block to insure that a strong and lightweight frame was created. There are four rails to allow te satellite to slid in an out of the frame. The four rails are connected by other aluminum pieces. The subsystem circuit boards are screwed on to these pieces. Carbon-fiber plates are then glued onto the outside of the frame to support the solar panels and altitude control coils. The solar panels and altitude control coils are glued to the plates.

Payload

AAU CubeSat's payload is a CMOS

CMOS

Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor is a technology for constructing integrated circuits. CMOS technology is used in microprocessors, microcontrollers, static RAM, and other digital logic circuits...

 digital camera. It has a resolution of 1.3 megapixels and has a color depth of 24 bit. From the satellite's 900 km altitude, the camera will capture pictures with a resolution of 120x110 m per pixel. The camera-chip was provided by a company called Devitech which is in Aalborg. The Copenhagen Optical Group and the mechanical group developed the lens system. The structure for the lens system is made out of titanium.

Communications

The communications systems on the satellite are composed of a modem and a radio. The radio is a SX450 type radio from Wood and Douglas. It broadcasts at 500 mW. The modem is a MX909 chip. It runs at 9600 baud

Baud

In telecommunications and electronics, baud is synonymous to symbols per second or pulses per second. It is the unit of symbol rate, also known as baud rate or modulation rate; the number of distinct symbol changes made to the transmission medium per second in a digitally modulated signal or a...

 and has many features such as:

• GMSK
• Scrambling
• Checksums
• Forward Error Correction
  Forward error correction
  In telecommunication, information theory, and coding theory, forward error correction or channel coding is a technique used for controlling errors in data transmission over unreliable or noisy communication channels....
  
  
• Interleaving
  Interleaving
  In computer science and telecommunication, interleaving is a way to arrange data in a non-contiguous way to increase performance.It is typically used:* In error-correction coding, particularly within data transmission, disk storage, and computer memory....
  
  

Altitude Determination and Control System

The ADCS aims the camera in the right direction, (away from the sun) and positions all three sides with solar panels to be facing the sun for maximum power output. The satellite is positioned by three coils of wire that generate a magnetic field that interacts with Earth's magnetic field. These interactions change the altitude and orientation of the satellite. The sensor array that determines altitude is made up of a magnetometer

Magnetometer

A magnetometer is a measuring instrument used to measure the strength or direction of a magnetic field either produced in the laboratory or existing in nature...

 and a sun sensor. The magnetometer was provided by Honeywell

Honeywell

Honeywell International, Inc. is a major conglomerate company that produces a variety of consumer products, engineering services, and aerospace systems for a wide variety of customers, from private consumers to major corporations and governments....

and determines the direction of Earth's magnetic field. The sun sensors are planer photo diodes that detect the intensity of incoming sunlight.