ZDPS 1, 1A (Zheda Pixing 1, 1A)

ZDPS 1 [Zhejiang University]

The Zhejiang University's ZDPS 1 (Zheda Pixing) series of picosatellites were the first Chinese picosatellites.

The ZDPS-1 and 1A satellites were built as 15 cm × 15 cm × 15 cm cubes with a weight of 2.5 kg for ZDPS-1 and a weight of 3.5 kg for ZDPS-1A-01 and ZDPS-1A-02 each.

Their purpose is to demonstrate pico-satellite technologies:

• an Universal S-Band (USB) TTC system
• an active tri-axial stabilizing attitude control
• a CMOS camera for panoramic Earth imaging

ZDPS-1 was launched as a piggy-back payload in 2007, but was apparently not successful.

ZDPS-1A-01 and ZDPS-1A-02 were both jointly launched in 2010 as piggy-back payloads and were the first pico-satellites that have been launched successfully in China. After two years successful in-orbit operation, main components of ZDPS-1A still work well.