New technologies, equipment and materials must be thoroughly tested and flight qualified before they are used in real satellites. For this purpose small experimental satellites are frequently used since they are low-mass, relatively cheap to build and can be launched as ‘piggy-back’ accompanying a larger primary payload into orbit. ISS-Reshetnev Company has the expertise necessary to design and manufacture this type of satellites.

To develop small experimental satellites, ISS-Reshetnev works jointly with other companies, scientific institutions and universities. Thus, projects of this type help solve not only scientific, technological and experimental issues, but also achieve educational goals as well. Participating in experimental missions, students get hands-on experience covering many areas from satellite design to satellite in‑orbit control operations. This educational method is called ‘project-oriented education technology’ while satellites that are joint efforts between companies and universities are usually referred to as ‘student satellites’.

Yubileiny

A small research satellite Yubileiny was built by ISS-Reshetnev Company to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the day when the first artificial satellite was launched into space. Yubileiny is intended to broadcast voice, video and images about this significate date and other important events of the aerospace industry. The satellite transmits messages via a radio channel in the 435 and 145 MHz amateur frequency bands. Users can receive data from the satellite in any place on Earth while it stays within their sight.

When working on the Yubileiny satellite, ISS-Reshetnev Company developed an advanced multifunctional unpressurized platform which was subsequently used in the company’s follow-up small satellite missions.

The satellite was launched into orbit on May 23, 2008. The project has yielded many fruitful results, it enabled flight testing of a magnet‑gravitational attitude and orbit control subsystem, recently developed Earth and Sun trackers, improved GaAs solar cells and radiation-resistant nanocoatings.

MiR

A small scientific satellite MiR was launched into orbit to carry out scientific experiments in space and to help obtain flight qualification for recently developed engineering solutions. As a result, a number of technical solutions developed by ISS-Reshetnev and its partner companies and organizations were successfully flight tested. Specifically, among those new technologies that proved effective and promising there were new advanced materials, various elements of thermal control, electric power supply, attitude end orbit control subsystems. As well as that, on the MiR satellite two types of cameras were tested: a surveillance camera and a remote sensing one. The surveillance camera was verified during satellite launch, while the remote sensing camera was active throughout the satellite mission and had provided more than 350 images of the Earth surface with spatial resolution of 250 m/pixel.

Being a follow-up mission of the Yubileiny satellite, MiR was designed and built around the same basic satellite platform. It is the second joint satellite construction project implemented by ISS-Reshetnev in cooperation with students and research members from Siberian State Aerospace University. The satellite is named after Mikhail Reshetnev, the founder and the first director of the company.

MiR was successfully placed into orbit on July 28, 2012.

ISS-55

ISS-Reshetnev Company is currently working on ISS-55 – a small multispectral remote Earth sensing satellite with high spatial resolution. It is intended to provide high-resolution images of the Earth surface in the visible and infrared spectral ranges, transmit data via a radio link, process and deliver data to a wide range of customers.

ISS-55 is based on a recently developed HT100-01 platform which enables satellites to provide high resolution imagery in the visible and infrared spectrum, and makes it possible to point satellites on some objects that were initially out of their sight. ISS-55’s payload will account for around 50 percent of the satellite mass which is estimated at 180 kilograms.

The main mission critical equipment of the satellite is represented by high spatial resolution optical instruments providing a resolution of less than one meter. Additionally, the satellite will also carry a medium spatial resolution multispectral imaging system with a resolution of less than 30 meters, including a Fourier video spectrometer and an infrared imaging system.

ISS-55 satellite imagery data can be used for emergency and disaster monitoring, mapping, water resources and land management, agriculture and forestry.

The satellite is due to be launched in late 2015.