1KUNS-PF
First Kenyan-owned satellite, deployed from the ISS in 2018.
1KUNS-PF, short for 1st Kenyan University NanoSatellite-Precursor Flight, marked Kenya's first satellite under its own ownership. Built and put together by the University of Nairobi for the Kenya Space Agency, the cubesat received engineering help from Japan's Aerospace Exploration Agency. It reached orbit via a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and was released from the International Space Station.
Quick Facts
- Auto
- all
- Mission type
- Technology demonstration; Earth observation
- Operator
- University of Nairobi
- Spacecraft type
- 1U CubeSat
- Launch mass
- 1 kg / 2.2 lb
- Dimensions
- 10 cm (3.94 in) cubed
- Launched
- 2 April 2018 UTC
- Launch site
- Kennedy LC-39A
Facts from the source article.
Background
The project to build a Kenyan satellite started with design work in September 2015. After winning a UNOOSA grant in 2016, the University of Nairobi became the first partner in a UN-JAXA initiative. Named 1KUNS-PF, the satellite received technical help from Sapienza University and two Italian firms. The total program cost about one million dollars.
Launch and purpose
The satellite was carried to the International Space Station on 2 April 2018 aboard the SpaceX CRS-14 mission, launched on a Falcon 9 rocket with NASA's assistance. It was deployed from the Kibō module on 11 May 2018. Its signal was first received at a ground station in Rome by Sapienza University students. 1KUNS-PF was a 1-unit cubesat, an experimental satellite whose main mission was to create awareness of space uses. Designed for a one-year lifespan, it operated within UN space use mitigation measures and deorbited in June 2020.
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