Abstract :
The Earth imaging experiment on UoSAT-2 is a further development of the study, started with UoSAT-1, into the feasibility of providing low cost spacecraft imaging facilities to meet the requirements of scientists and meteorologists. It is also intended to demonstrate an alternative, inexpensive space imaging capability to agencies not wishing to rely solely on the satellite imaging programmes sponsored by the USA, USSR and ESA. Based on solid state charge coupled device (CCD) technology, a small low cost camera was designed and built for incorporation into UoSAT-2. This camera is designed to satisfy the medium resolution requirement (approx 2¿3 km) which is sufficient for many meteorology and climatology applications. The image data generated by the CCD camera is digitized and stored in the Digital Store and Readout (DSR) memory experiment also on-board UoSAT-2. The DSR is a general purpose 192 kbyte CMOS storage facility which supports error-protected downlink transmission using CRC and Fire block coding. This paper describes the design and operation of both the imaging and DSR experiments on the spacecraft.
