Mission Background

Launched in September 2018, the minisatellite NovaSAR-1 is a technology demonstration mission with a design life of seven years, designed to test the capabilities of a new low cost S-band SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) platform. The spacecraft and payload were developed collaboratively by SSTL (Survey Satellite Technology Ltd.) and Airbus Defence & Space Ltd, with funding from organisations in the UK, India, Australia and the Philippines.
 

NovaSAR-1 infographic

Learn more about the NovaSAR-1 mission in the following infographic:

Satellite Design

Developed under a joint initiative by SSTL and Airbus Defence and Space, NovaSAR-1 combines the heritage avionics of the SSTL-300 bus with a new structural design to accommodate the payload. To provide a highly reliable system with a design lifetime spanning over seven years, the bus platform makes use of wide-ranging redundancy architectures. The spacecraft has a mass of 430 kg, featuring a xenon propulsion system and S-band TT&C (Telemetry, Tracking and Command) data transmission.

Mission Operations

NovaSAR-1 was launched on 16 September 2018 (16:38 UTC) on the PSLV-C42 vehicle of ISRO from SDSC (Satish Dhawan Space Centre) from SHAR, ISRO's launch centre on the south-east coast of India, Sriharikota.

NovaSAR-1 is operated in orbit from SSTL’s Spacecraft Operations Centre in Guildford, UK.

Related Links

Learn more about NovaSAR-1:

• NovaSAR-1 on eoPortal*
• NovaSAR-1 User Guide*

*The information provided is sourced and updated by external entities. For further details, please consult our Terms and Conditions page.