In addition to the 3.6 tons supply, the Cygnus supply spacecraft which was launched on Saturday morning also had Ariel University's first satellite, the SATLLA-1 nano-satellite.
The SATLLA-1 nano-satellite is the first of a trio of nano-satellites aimed at demonstrating the ability of laser-based communications from space and testing the systems that enable it, which are being built by a team of students under the guidance of Prof. Boaz Ben Moshe at Ariel University.
SATLLA-1, which has been built over the past two years, is based on the CubeSat 1U satellite platform (i.e. 10 cm * 10 cm * 10 cm in size) and aims to demonstrate and test 4 different technologies adapted to nano-satellites developed at the university:
1. Star tracker: The system allows the satellite's spatial position to be determined according to the constellation it sees.
2. Reaction Control System: includes several wheels inside the satellite that rotate at high speed and maintain the stability of the satellite or change its angle as needed.
3. Use of LED to locate and monitor the satellite: The satellite has an array of LED lights that will light up during its suits over Israel and will allow accurate tracking of the satellite using a set of robotic telescopes.
4. LoRa communication: Using LoRa UHF and S-BAND for communication downlink and uplink.