Presentation Synopsis

‘SMOG-P & ATL-1: the Hungarian PocketQube Class Satellites’

To follow the educational path in satellite development, during the lifetime of MASAT-1, in 2014 a new group of university students carried on with satellite development at Budapest University of Technology and Economics. To reduce the costs and development time, the team had decided to work with the PocketQube standard. Thus the development of 1-PQ (5x5x5 cm) SMOG-1/P and 2-PQ (5x5x10 cm) ATL-1 size satellites begun.

The primary payload of SMOG-1/P satellites is the spectrum monitoring system in the Digital Video Broadcasting Television frequency band on the Low Earth Orbit. This man-made RF radiation, known as electromagnetic smog (hence the name) can cause interference in LEO satellite communication.

The secondary mission of the SMOG satellites is the measurement of total ionizing dose with suitable field effect transistors on-board. This makes it possible to estimate the operational lifetime of the satellites. As an additional payload, SMOG-1 features a special magnetic hysteresis material mounted on the side panels below the solar cells to decrease the life span of the orbit to minimize the time during which the satellite acts as space debris.

The primary mission of ATL-1 satellite is the on-board thermal isolation demonstration of three different and special thermal insulator materials in vacuum and microgravity to regulate the temperature of the batteries. ATL-1 also features the DVB-T based spectrum monitoring system as SMOG-1/P. The structure of the satellites, the measurement results, the ground stations, the minimal configuration of satellite reception and the operational experiences of SMOG-P and ATL-1 can be presented from the launch of Electron-2 in 6th of December, 2019.