On November 28 at 11:15 p.m. (Colombia time) the launch to the space of the FACSAT-1, the first Nanosatélite that the Colombian Air Force puts into orbit from the Satish Dhawan Space Center (SDSC) in Sriharikota, India, was carried out. Successfully, in a PSLV rocket (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) of the ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization), together with a satellite, a microsatellite and 28 more nanosatellites, in order to obtain images that led to contribute to the country.
In a land station in the Military School of Aviation 'Marco Fidel Suárez' in Cali, in the department of Valle del Cauca; officers, non-commissioned officers, cadets, teachers, researchers and support personnel attended the launch in a live connection with Gomspace of Denmark and the Space Department of India of the rocket PSLV-C43. In the same way, the occasion was useful to introduce the project of the Danish company, who develop the FACSAT-1, with the presence in Denmark of Brigadier General Fernando León Losada, Head of Aeronautical Education of the Air Force, Colonel Giovanny Ruta, Chief of the Office of Space Affairs of the FAC, Major José Luis Martínez, researcher at the Aerospace Technologies Research Center of the COLOMBIAN AIR FORCE and the apprentice Montoya Guillermo, a computer engineer at Emavi, who participated in the entire knowledge transfer program in the implementation of the Station of Command and Control of the nanosatellite.
Features
The FACSAT-1, first satellite of the Air Force Space Program, of three cubes, was built in Denmark and will have a useful life of three to five years depending on the variability of energy consumption, its mass is 4 kilos, it will orbit about 505 kilometers high and every 90 minutes will turn around the planet; it has the ability to capture images with a lens of 30 meters per pixel.
Objective
The implementation of FACSAT-1 helps to train and develop skills in science and technology through the transfer of knowledge, opportunities for academic research, financial savings, and international cooperation.
With the nanosatellite the COLOMBIAN AIR FORCE promotes the development and use of own spatial capabilities to guarantee technological and satellite autonomy seeking to reduce the dependence on foreign technologies optimizing the available resources.
This satellite will contribute to the fulfillment of the Institutional Vision of being a Branch technologically developed, with the best human talent and anchored in its values, to lead the aerospace power and be decisive in the defense of the nation, leading to share information with the other branches and Institutions of the Nation jointly, coordinately, combined and in interagency way.
Source: Colombian Air Force
