UoSAT-4
Failed British Low Earth Orbit Satellite
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
UoSAT-4, also known as UO-15 and OSCAR-15, is a British satellite in Low Earth Orbit. It was built by a spin-off company of the University of Surrey, Surrey Satellite Technology (SSTL) and launched in January 1990 from French Guiana.[1]
| Mission type | OSCAR |
|---|---|
| Operator | University of Surrey |
| COSPAR ID | 1990-005C[1] |
| SATCAT no. | 20438 |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Manufacturer | SSTL |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 22 January 1990, 01:35:27 UTC |
| Rocket | Ariane 40[2] |
| Launch site | Kourou ELA-2 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Regime | Sun-synchronous |
| Perigee altitude | 780 km (480 mi) |
| Apogee altitude | 796 km (495 mi) |
| Inclination | 98.8074 degrees |
| Period | 100.6 minutes |
| Epoch | 15 April 2019, 20:59[3] |
UoSAT-4 was launched on the same rocket as its sister satellite, UoSAT-3.[2]
Mission
UoSAT-4 carried equipment to supplement UoSAT-3, but failed after two days in orbit.[2]
The satellite forms part of the growing amounts of orbital debris orbiting around the Earth. The payload will decay in the Earth's atmosphere some time in the future.
