SunSpace was established in 2000 as a spin-off from Stellenbosch University following the successful launch of SUNSAT by NASA with a Delta-II launch vehicle. During the past decade SunSpace has developed and delivered numerous satellite components, subsystems and two flight model satellite, now operational in space. This blog documents the mission of Sumbandila (funded by the DST), launched on a Soyuz-2.1b on 17 September 2009. SunSpace places a high premium on a strong partnership with the South African Government for supplying the ongoing satellite needs of our government.

17 March 2010

6 months in space today!

Time flies when you're having fun!  We are indeed grateful for this milestone and look forward to many more happy anniversaries.  Some mission stats to date:
  • Number of orbits: 2,750
  • Months in space: 6 (today!)
  • Distance travelled: 0.74 AU
  • Activities uploaded: 1900
  • Images taken successfully: 93
  • Firmware uploads:  25
  • ADCS SW updates:  12

Current Keplerian Elements

Last Update: 1 Febr 2010
Element set: 404

Sumbandila
1 35870U 09049F   10032.48635300  .00000433  00000-0  21444-4 0  4040
2 35870 097.3525 084.8560 0011505 166.1189 300.7196 15.22856092 20818