After months of delays due to the health crisis, the OSM1 CICERO nanosatellite, built by Monaco-based start-up Orbital Solutions Monaco, is now set to blast off later this month in French Guiana.
Originally scheduled to be launched on 24th March, the nanosatellite OSM1 CICERO, which stands forCommunity Initiative for Cellular Earth Remote Observation, has a new take off date. The Monegasque-built satellite will head for the heavens on the back of the Vega Rocket from Arianespace on 19th June at 1:51am GMT from the Kourou Space Centre in French Guiana, marking the Principality’s first foray into building space craft of the future.
This new high-tech sector, called ‘New Space’, promises to be exciting for the country, and if the mission is a success, it will pave the way to more movement in this field.
This satellite will be the first Monaco registered space object in the United Nations Register of Objects Launched into Outer Space and will carry out several tasks, including terrestrial observation and collecting meteorological data by a technique called radio occultation.
According to Francesco Bongiovanni, CEO of Orbital Solutions, radio occultation is an exact measurement at a distance of the planet’s atmospheric characteristics using waves emitted by GPS satellites, making it possible to collect important weather data useful in forecasting.
The nanosatellite weighs a mere 10 kilogrammes and is 20x10x30cm in size. It will orbit the Earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of 540 kilometres above the surface.
Top photo: Prince Albert inspecting the nanosatellite at the Orbital Solutions headquarters in Monaco in October 2019, courtesy Prince’s Palace
First Monegasque satellite launch back on!
