Masat 1, the small satellite developed by Hungarian researchers, which was orbited on 13 February last year, has been operating perfectly and has broken all records in its category, the audience was informed at a press conference organized to celebrate its 1st “birthday”.

The satellite has orbited the Earth five thousand times over the past year, sending over 5 million data reports from space and making more than 150 recordings, some of which were presented at the event.

As a consequence of the success of Masat 1, the Budapest University of Technology and Economics in cooperation with industrial partners began to draw up possible follow-up options, Project Manager Gyula Horváth said.
Together with eight other satellites aboard the Vega expendable launch system of the European Space Agency (ESA), Masat 1 set off on 13 February last year from the Kourou Space Center (French Guyana). The cube-shaped satellite sized 10x10x10cm with a weight of less than one kilogram was completed as a result of a five-year development project.
The route of the space object revolving on an elliptical orbit with initially a minimum and a maximum distance from Earth of 300km and 1450km, respectively, has modified over the past year: it is now 200km closer to Earth and thus, according to calculations, it may keep orbiting in space and sending data for as much as another two years. On the first anniversary of orbiting the satellite the primary electric circuit boards are still functioning in every redundant sub system of the construction, therefore chances for long-term faultless operation are good, explained the expert.

On the satellite there is 640×480 pixel camera which has shot more than 150 pictures since 8 March 2012. By the assistance of the camera developers also made unique 3D space photos above the Southern part of Africa which can be observed with glasses fitted with red- and cyanide-hued lenses.
Another novelty is the so-called mosaic picture consisting of seven overlapping photos which the satellite shot as a series of pictures of a certain location of Earth. This method enabled making a picture of a large territory of the Earth with much greater definition than that of a camera. The picture shows the Southern part of Africa with Zambia’s Lake Kariba as one characteristic identification point.

Having been encouraged by domestic and international success, the Budapest University of Technology and Economics in cooperation with industrial partners began to draw up possible follow-up options over the past six months.  As Dean of the Department for Control Engineering and Information Technology László Vajta stressed that the university made it a priority to establish a network of co-operation with the Government and enterprises. As he said, it could work as a catalyst resulting in more jobs for a large number of highly skilled professionals which would in turn serve the interests of companies and help retain professionals in Hungary.

Minister of State Zoltán Cséfalvay added that it has been one of Hungarian R&D policy’s priorities to assist the cooperation between universities and enterprises. “This project has been a crucial experience for our R&D policy which highlighted the importance of strengthening support options which stimulate co-operation between universities and enterprises,” he said.
The Masat 1 development team was awarded in 2012 the Millennium Award by the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office and the Pro Urbe Award from the Municipality of Budapest. To honour the development, the Hungarian Post issued commemorative stamps and the National Bank of Hungary a commemorative coin. On 16 February 2012 the construction was bestowed the MO-72 ranking which means that Masat 1 is the 72nd satellite launched among the world’s amateur radio satellites already in space.

(Ministry for National Economy)