ÅAC Microtec avionics aboard the first 50 kg microsatellite deployed from the ISS

ÅAC Microtec has supplied a key avionics component for the new Philippine microsatellite Diwata-1, which was launched from Kennedy Space Center to the International Space Station (ISS) on March 23 and successfully deployed into orbit on April 27.

Diwata-1 is a 50 kg microsatellite and it uses one of ÅAC’s fault-tolerant mass memory products. The new satellite will be used for environmental resource monitoring and meteorological applications, among other things.

“I am very glad that the Diwata-1 satellite deployment was successful and I congratulate the collaborating Philippine and Japanese teams to a well-executed project that was carried out within a very short timeframe. I am pleased that ÅAC got the chance to be part of the first deployment of a satellite of this size from the ISS, following the previous successful contribution to TechEdSat-1, which was in the first group of CubeSats to be deployed from the International Space Station in 2012,” says ÅAC Microtec’s CEO Mikael Andersson.

About Diwata-1

Diwata‒1 is a 50kg satellite with the dimensions 55 cm x 35 cm x 55 cm. It was developed as part of the Department of Science and Technology’s Philippine Scientific Earth Observation microsatellite (PHL‒microsatellite) Program. In this program the University of the Philippines collaborates with two Japanese universities, the Tohoku University and the Hokkaido University. Diwata-1 has four optical sensors providing satellite images for environmental resource monitoring and meteorological applications to the Philippine nation of 100 million people.

About TechEdSat

The Technological and Educational Nanosatellite, or TechEdSat, program is a series of CubeSats built by NASA Ames. TechEdSat-1 was a 1U CubeSat built by NASA Ames Research Center, ÅAC Microtec and students from San Jose State University. TechEdSat-1 had a mission to evaluate Space Plug-and-play Avionics (SPA) from ÅAC Microtec, and was launched on an H-IIB carrier rocket from the Tanegashima Space Center on 21 July 2012 to the International Space Station. It was later successfully deployed via the JAXA J-SSOD deployer on 4 Oct 2012. It reentered the atmosphere on 5 May 2013.

For further information please contact:

ÅAC Microtec AB
Johan Bäckström, VP Sales & Marketing
+46 70 673 6755
johan.backstrom@aacmicrotec.com

ÅAC Microtec globally provides high value space solutions and systems for commercial and governmental customers through its partner network and offices in Uppsala, Sweden, and Moffett Field, CA, USA. The company is today a core development partner in leading programs to launch new, smaller satellites for the new space market. Based on its advanced position in these programs, ÅAC’s ambition is to further strengthen its position as a strategic supplier for the growing aerospace industry. www.aacmicrotec.com