UoSAT-3

UoSAT-3, also known as UO-14 and OSCAR-14, 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] The satellite functioned as one of a series of OSCAR satellite in orbit around the Earth, as well as observing Earth and performing scientific experiments.[2]

UoSAT-3
Mission typeOSCAR
OperatorUniversity of Surrey
COSPAR ID1990-005B[1]
SATCAT no.20437
Spacecraft properties
ManufacturerSSTL
Start of mission
Launch date22 January 1990, 01:35:27 (1990-01-22UTC01:35:27Z) UTC
RocketAriane 40[2]
Launch siteKourou ELA-2
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric
RegimeSun-synchronous
Perigee altitude776 km (482 mi)
Apogee altitude792 km (492 mi)
Inclination98.7491 degrees
Period100.5 minutes
Epoch15 April 2019, 21:11 UTC[3]
 

UoSAT-3 was launched on the same rocket as its sister satellite, UoSAT-4.[2]

Current Status

UoSAT-3 exceeded its expected operational life by 3 years and ceased active service in 1999.[4] However, amateur radio enthusiasts managed to track the satellite for a certain amount of time afterwards via the satellite's FM voice transponder.[4]

The satellite, which is now non-operational, forms a part of the growing amounts of space debris orbiting around the Earth. The payload will decay in the Earth's atmosphere some time in the future.

gollark: To make sure it's UTF-8ing properly.
gollark: I don't like OOP.
gollark: Nope.
gollark: If you don't have a 10-gigabit internet connection, 64-core CPU, 2TB of RAM and 32TB of NVMe disks, do you *deserve* C++ packages?
gollark: Rightfully.

References
  1. "Sat Cat". Celestrak. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
  2. "UoSat 3, 4, 5 (UO 14, 15, 22 / Oscar 14, 15, 22) / Healthsat 1". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
  3. "Oscar 14 - Orbit". Heavens-Above. 15 April 2019. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  4. "Messages from Space". University of Surrey. Retrieved 27 June 2012.


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