ROBUSTA (Radiation on Bipolar for University Satellite Test Application) is a nano-satellite scientific experiment developed by the University of Montpellier students as part of a Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES) call for student projects in the field of orbital systems.[3]
The satellite is a Cubesat, the name given to a series of nano-satellites developed as part of student projects. The ROBUSTA mission is to check the deterioration of electronic components, based on bipolar transistors, when exposed to in-flight space radiation. The results of the experiment will be used to validate a new radiation test method proposed by the laboratory.[4]
Implementation of the project
The duration of the ROBUSTA project is 6 years, beginning in 2006. The satellite was launched on 13 February 2012 on the Vega rocket's maiden flight,[5] and reentered in the atmosphere in February 2015. An anomaly within the battery recharge system resulted in the loss of the satellite after a few days.[6]
^Boch, Jérôme; Gonzalez Velo, Yago; Saigne, Frédéric; Roche, Nicolas J.-H.; Schrimpf, Ronald D.; Vaille, Jean-Roch; Dusseau, Laurent; Chatry, Christian; Lorfevre, Eric; Ecoffet, Robert; Touboul, Antoine D. (2009). "The Use of a Dose-Rate Switching Technique to Characterize Bipolar Devices". IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science. 56 (6): 3347–3353. Bibcode:2009ITNS...56.3347B. doi:10.1109/TNS.2009.2033686. S2CID20001729.
Launches are separated by dots ( • ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).
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