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NepaliSat-1
Mission type	Technology demonstration
Operator	KIT / NAST
COSPAR ID	1998-067QE
SATCAT no.	44329
Start of mission
Launch date	17 April 2019, 20:46 UTC
Rocket	Antares 230
Launch site	Wallops Pad 0A
Contractor	Northrop Grumman
Deployed from	International Space Station
End of mission
Disposal	Reentered
Decay date	4 October 2021

NepaliSat-1, also known as Bird NPL,^[2] was a Nepalese low orbit research satellite and the first satellite of Nepal.^[3] Along with a Sri Lankan satellite, Raavana 1, it was launched as part of Cygnus NG-11 by the United States on 17 April 2019.^[4] It reached the International Space Station on 19 April 2019, to be deployed later, and was estimated to revolve the Earth for six months.^[5]

Background

The nanosatellite was developed by two Nepalese scientists Aabhas Maskey and Hariram Shrestha, both of whom were at the time studying at Japanese Kyushu Institute of Technology. Aabhas Maskey, a PhD candidate in space engineering was the project manager of the Birds-3 project and he involved himself in this project.^[6] The satellite had a mass of 1.3 kg^[7] and it was funded by the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology while it was constructed under the BIRDS-3 project of the Japanese Kyushu Institute of Technology.^[8] The main mission of Birds Program was to support countries who have never sent a satellite to space.^[6] The development of the satellite cost nearly twenty million Nepalese rupee.^[3] The satellite contained Nepal's flag and Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) logo, alongside the developers name.^[9]^[10]

Satellite launch

The satellite was launched on 18 April 2019 at 02:31 am (Nepal Standard Time) from Virginia.^[11] The satellite was orbiting at an altitude of about 400 kilometres.^[3] The satellite took pictures of Nepal to provide geographical information to the country.^[9] Suresh Kumar Dhungel said to The Kathmandu Post: "The satellite will remain in the Earth’s orbit for a year during which the satellite will be closely studied" and "Since it is a learning phase, the study of the satellite will help us in developing more advanced satellites in the future."^[4]

Reception

Prime minister of Nepal Khadga Prasad Oli congratulated the scientists via Twitter by writing, "Though a humble beginning, with the launching of NepaliSat-1 Nepal has entered the Space-Era. I wish to congratulate all those scientists and institutions that were involved right from the development to its launching thereby enhancing the prestige of our country."^[11] Suresh Kumar Dhungel, spokesman for Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), said, "...they invested in the satellite in a bid to open new paths for space engineering in the country."^[11]

Specifications

Section source^[12]

NepaliSat-1

Country: Nepal
Type: CubeSat
Type: 1U
Project Name: Bird-3
Organisation: University
Organisation: Kyushu Institute of Technology
Oneliner: Remote Data Collection based on low powered LoRa modulation for demonstration.