SpaceQuest, Ltd. ("SpaceQuest"), a U.S. satellite technology company headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia, is pleased to announce the successful launch of two SpaceQuest-manufactured microsatellites, Aprizesat-3 and Aprizesat-4.
On July 29, 2009, at 18:46 GMT the two spacecraft were successfully launched into a circular sun-synchronous low-Earth orbit (LEO) aboard a Russian Dnepr launch vehicle.
The two satellites join Aprizesat-1 and Aprizesat-2, also manufactured by SpaceQuest, which were successfully launched into sun-synchronous low-Earth orbit on June 29, 2004 and continue to operate in good health. The spacecraft will be registered in the U.S. Space Objects Registry by the Department of State.
The Dnepr cluster launch mission carried 6 spacecraft on-board. By launching the small SpaceQuest satellites "piggyback" style on the Dnepr rocket as secondary payloads to the DubaiSat-1 mission, launch costs were dramatically reduced.
Mark Kanawati, Vice President of SpaceQuest had this to say after the launch, "My congratulations to ISC Kosmotras for yet another successful launch, and for once again demonstrating the cost-effectiveness of the Dnepr program, a commercial space launch system that brings direct cost benefits to our customers.
The SpaceQuest team deserves special recognition for doing an outstanding job from start to finish – from constructing
and testing the satellites, to hand-carrying the satellites to the Baikonur Cosmodrome, to preparing the satellites for flight and mating them with the Dnepr Space Head Module within a span of five hours."
The two SpaceQuest-manufactured satellites launched today are 10 inch cubes weighing only 25 lbs yet have the performance and capacity of competitive systems costing up to ten times as much.
They were built for Aprize Satellite Inc., a provider of low-cost wireless services for worldwide asset tracking and data monitoring, and will operate in the UHF and S-Band frequencies.
Aprize will offer low-cost satellite data services for such applications as monitoring the fuel level of liquid propane tanks, oil and gas pipeline monitoring, and mobile tracking of shipping containers, rail cars and trailers and space-based AIS Data Services to the global maritime community.
SpaceQuest is a developer of advanced satellite technology for government, university and commercial use for the past fifteen years, specializing in the design, development, testing and manufacture of spacecraft as well as space and ground components for operation with low-earth orbiting satellites.
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