UWE-1

UWE-1 is one of three CubeSat built by students of the University of Würzburg, launched on October 27, 2005 as part of the European Space Agency's SSETI Express mission from Plesetsk in Russia, orbiting Earth in a 690 km (430 mi) circular orbit. The cube-shaped satellite weighs about 1 kg and has an edge length of 10 cm, which corresponds to the Cubesat standard.

UWE-1
Country Germany
OrganizationUniversity of Würzburg
Satellite ofEarth
LaunchOctober 27, 2005 on Kosmos-3M
Launch sitePlesetsk Cosmodrome
Mission duration1 year
Mass<1 kg
COSPAR-ID2005-043C
Orbital elements
Semi-major axis7073.6 km
Eccentricity.00179
Inclination98.1817 degrees
Orbital Period98.67 minutes
Right ascension of the ascending node250.03 degrees
Argument of perigee12.73 degrees

Mission

The primary mission of UWE-1 was to conduct telecommunication experiments. Among other things, it was about the data transmission on the Internet under space conditions: It was necessary to adapt the common Internet protocols to the difficult conditions in space environment on Earth, the transport of data on the Web works very reliable, but in space can increasingly delays and disruptions occur. Furthermore, UWE-1 also served as a test laboratory for highly efficient solar cells, whose performance and durability should be investigated.

Downlink/uplink frequency was 437.505 MHz, modulation was 9600 Baud AFSK. The amateur radio sign of UWE-1 was DPØUWE. The last contact with the satellite took place on 17 November 2005. An identical UWE test model was made available to the Deutsches Museum in Munich, where it will be exhibited together with a test model of the successor UWE-2 in the space department. UWE-1 was followed by the later UWE-2 launched into space on September 23, 2009.

UWE-1 still circles around the earth today but fell silent after conducting the Internet experiments in 2006. Due to the friction with the rest of the atmosphere, UWE-1 continues braking until it will burn up completely in about 15 years.

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