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ĩHETsat [SITAEL S.p.A.]
The ĩHETsat or MicroHETsat project a satellite developed at SITAEL S.p.A. in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian Space Agency (ASI). It represents one of the first applications of a Hall Effect based, low power electric thruster (so-called HET), on-board a microsatellite platform (ĩsat).
The flight segment of this mission is based on the SITAEL low cost S-75 micro-platform that has been adapted to carry out the in orbit validation of the SITAEL HT-100 low power thruster system which represents also the ĩHETsat payload. The mission is validating both the SITAEL bus (S-75 platform) and SITAEL low power Hall Effect Thruster (HT100).
Virgin Orbit had originally been contracted to launch the satellite on their LauncherOne rocket. Later the satellite was re-booked for a shared Vega launch, but ended up eventually on a Falcon-9 v1.2 (Block 5) launch vehicle.
| Nation: | Italy |
|---|---|
| Type / Application: | Technology |
| Operator: | SITAEL S.p.A. |
| Contractors: | SITAEL S.p.A. |
| Equipment: | |
| Configuration: | SITAEL S-75 bus |
| Propulsion: | HT100 Hall Effect Thruster |
| Power: | Solar cells, batteries |
| Lifetime: | |
| Mass: | < 60 kg |
| Orbit: |
| Satellite | COSPAR | Date | LS | Launch Vehicle | Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ĩHETsat | 2023-185E | 01.12.2023 | Va SLC-4E | Falcon-9 v1.2 (Block 5) | with KORSAT 7, ĩHETsat, GNOMES 4, KOYOH, Bane, ION-SCV 015, ALISIO 1, LOGSATS, NanoFF A, B, Unicorn 2L, 2M, 2N, MDQube-SAT 2, SpIRIT, Lilium 1, EIRSAT 1, ENSO, Hayasat 1 |
Launch Sites:
- Va = Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, USA
