UoSAT-1
| Mission type | OSCAR |
|---|---|
| Operator | University of Surrey |
| COSPAR ID | 1981-100B |
| SATCAT no. | 12888 |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Launch mass | 54 kilograms (119 lb) |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 6 October 1981, 11:27 UTC |
| Rocket | Delta 2310 |
| Launch site | Vandenberg AFB |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Regime | Low Earth |
UoSAT-1, also known as UoSAT-OSCAR 9 (UO-9), was a British amateur radio satellite which orbited Earth. It was built at the University of Surrey and launched into low Earth orbit on 6 October 1981. It exceeded its anticipated two-year orbital lifespan by six years, having received signals on 13 October 1989, before re-entering the atmosphere.
Like its successor UoSAT-2 it carried a CCD camera and a Digitalker speech synthesiser, and transmitted telemetry data on a 145.826 MHz beacon at 1200 baud using asynchronous AFSK.
The Astrid package sold by British firm MM Microwave, consisting of a fixed frequency VHF receiver set and software for the BBC Micro, could display the telemetry frames from either UoSAT-1 or UoSAT-2. UoSAT-1's solar arrays were of an experimental design reused for UoSAT-2.
The primary computer for the satellite was the RCA 1802 microprocessor. A secondary microprocessor was also employed, the "F100L" (a Ferranti 16-bit processor). Memory was 16K of DRAM.
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