SwissCube-1 is a Swiss

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 satellite

Satellite

In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....

 operated by Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne

The École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne is one of the two Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology and is located in Lausanne, Switzerland.The school was founded by the Swiss Federal Government with the stated mission to:...

. The spacecraft is a single unit 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...

, which was designed to conduct research into nightglow

Airglow

Airglow is the very weak emission of light by a planetary atmosphere. In the case of Earth's atmosphere, this optical phenomenon causes the night sky to never be completely dark .-Development:The airglow phenomenon was first identified in 1868 by Swedish scientist...

 within the Earth's atmosphere, and to develop technology for future spacecraft. It has also been used for amateur radio

Amateur radio

Amateur radio is the use of designated radio frequency spectrum for purposes of private recreation, non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, and emergency communication...

. It was the first Swiss satellite to be launched.

SwissCube-1 was launched by a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle

Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle

The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle , commonly known by its abbreviation PSLV, is an expendable launch system developed and operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation . It was developed to allow India to launch its Indian Remote Sensing satellites into sun synchronous orbits, a service that...

, serial number C14, flying in the Core Alone, or PSLV-CA, configuration. The launch took place from the First Launch Pad

Satish Dhawan Space Centre First Launch Pad

The First Launch Pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre is a rocket launch site in Sriharikota, India. It is used by Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle and Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle rockets. It is one of two orbital launch pads at the site, the other being the Second Launch Pad, which...

 at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre

Satish Dhawan Space Centre

The Satish Dhawan Space Centre is the launch centre for the Indian Space Research Organisation . It is located in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, India, north of Chennai in South India. It was originally called Sriharikota High Altitude Range , and was sometime known as Sriharikota Launching Range...

, at 06:21 UTC on 23 September 2009. SwissCube-1 was a secondary payload aboard the rocket, which deployed the Oceansat-2

Oceansat-2

Oceansat-2 is an Indian satellite designed to provide service continuity for operational users of the Ocean Colour Monitor instrument on Oceansat-1. It will also enhance the potential of applications in other areas...

 satellite. Five other secondary payloads were flown aboard the rocket; BeeSat, UWE-2

UWE-2

The University Würzburg's Experimental satellite 2 is a CubeSat of a length of 10 cm and a mass of 1 kg. Developed by the University of Würzburg, its scientific objectives are;...

, ITU-pSat1, Rubin 9.1 and Rubin 9.2.

It took the first picture on 18 February 2011 and the first airglow picture on 3 March 2011.EPFL 24 march news

SwissCube-1 is operating in a sun synchronous orbit with an apogee

Apsis

An apsis , plural apsides , is the point of greatest or least distance of a body from one of the foci of its elliptical orbit. In modern celestial mechanics this focus is also the center of attraction, which is usually the center of mass of the system...

 of 752 kilometres (467.3 mi), a perigee

Apsis

An apsis , plural apsides , is the point of greatest or least distance of a body from one of the foci of its elliptical orbit. In modern celestial mechanics this focus is also the center of attraction, which is usually the center of mass of the system...

 of 726 kilometres (451.1 mi) and 98.28 degrees of inclination

Inclination

Inclination in general is the angle between a reference plane and another plane or axis of direction.-Orbits:The inclination is one of the six orbital parameters describing the shape and orientation of a celestial orbit...

 to the equator

Equator

An equator is the intersection of a sphere's surface with the plane perpendicular to the sphere's axis of rotation and containing the sphere's center of mass....

. It has an orbital period

Orbital period

The orbital period is the time taken for a given object to make one complete orbit about another object.When mentioned without further qualification in astronomy this refers to the sidereal period of an astronomical object, which is calculated with respect to the stars.There are several kinds of...

of 98.5 minutes. , it is still operational. Its mission was expected to last between three and twelve months.