F4IOZOlivier · radio amateur · JN18FS

Satellite fact file launch, age, size, pictures

The ISS, Tiangong, UmKA-1, SAKHACUBE-CHOLBON, SO-50, AO-07… When were they launched? Which one went up first? 1U or crewed station? SSTV or SSDV? Fill in the fact files, the multiplier climbs. All games

Who went up first?

Choose the level and the mode beside, then go. Keys 1 to 5 to answer, Enter for what comes next.

Badges

File openedA first right answer.
Combo ×4Reach the ×4 multiplier.
PioneerTen duels won: which went up first.
VintageType a launch's exact year.
Cube stackerTen right answers on the size.
SSTV or SSDVTen right answers on the pictures.
CollectorA right answer on twenty different satellites.
Files completeFifteen right answers out of fifteen.
Countdown20 right answers in a timed game.
Long mission25 right answers in a three-lives game.
All-rounderFinish a game of each game.

My games

No game yet.

Your games, records and badges are kept in this browser only: nothing is sent to the site.

1U, 3U, 6U: CubeSats

A basic CubeSat is a cube 10 cm a side: that is the unit, 1U. A 2U lines up two, a 3U three (about 10 × 10 × 30 cm), a 6U six, in two columns of three. Many amateur satellites are CubeSats; AO-91 fits in a single cube.

SSTV and SSDV

SSTV (slow-scan television): an analogue picture told by sound, line after line, in FM. The ISS's can be heard with a simple handheld and a decoder on the sound.
SSDV (Slow Scan Digital Video): a JPEG picture cut into numbered packets of 256 bytes, each with its check. A lost packet costs a few blocks, not the picture; the packets received by several stations add up.

The year in the designator

Every object launched gets an international designator: 1998-067A is the ISS — the launch year, the year's 67th launch, piece A. The orbital elements carry it on line 1 (98067A): the launch year of every satellite of the game is read there.

The game's fact files

Satellite	Launch	Sends	Country or organisation of the operator
AO-07	15 November 1974 1974-089B	Linear transponder, CW beacon	United States, Canada, Germany, Australia (AMSAT) AMSAT
AO-27	26 September 1993 1993-061C	FM repeater	United States AMRAD and Interferometrics
FO-29	17 August 1996 1996-046B	Linear transponder	Japan JARL (Japan Amateur Radio League)
ISS Crewed station	20 November 1998 1998-067A	SSTV pictures, FM repeater, APRS digipeater	International (United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, Canada) NASA, Roscosmos, ESA, JAXA, CSA
SO-50	20 December 2002 2002-058C	FM repeater	Saudi Arabia KACST (King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology)
SEEDS II	2008 2008-021J	SSTV pictures	—
AO-73	21 November 2013 2013-066AE	Linear transponder, Telemetry	United Kingdom and the Netherlands AMSAT-UK and AMSAT-NL
LAPAN-A2	2015 2015-052B	SSDV pictures	—
AO-91 1U CubeSat	18 November 2017 2017-073E	FM repeater	United States AMSAT-NA, with Vanderbilt University
PO-101	29 October 2018 2018-084H	FM repeater	Philippines University of the Philippines and DOST
QO-100	15 November 2018 2018-090A	Geostationary transponders	Qatar Es'hailSat, with AMSAT-DL and QARS for the amateur part
JO-97	3 December 2018 2018-099AX	Linear transponder, SSDV pictures	Jordan Crown Prince Foundation of Jordan, with AMSAT-UK
RS-44	26 December 2019 2019-096E	Linear transponder, CW beacon	Russia DOSAAF (Russia)
TeikyoSat-4	2021 2021-102B	SSTV pictures	—
CSS (Tiangong) Crewed station	29 April 2021 2021-035A	SSTV pictures	China China Manned Space Agency (CMSA)
IO-117	13 July 2022	Digital repeater	Italy Sapienza University of Rome
UmKA-1	2023 2023-091G	SSTV pictures	—
VIZARD-meteo	2023 2023-091Z	SSTV pictures	—
ASRTU-1	2024 2024-199AY	SSDV pictures	—
SONATE-2	2024 2024-043Q	SSTV pictures	—
QMR-KWT 2	2025 2025-313AV	SSTV pictures	—
SAKHACUBE-CHOLBON	2025 2025-313AU	SSTV pictures	—
HADES-SA	2026 2026-067AG	SSDV pictures	—
239Alferov	—	SSDV pictures	—
AHMAT-1	—	SSTV pictures	—
GALAPAGOS-UTE-SWSU	—	SSTV pictures	—
Geoscan-2	—	SSDV pictures	—
Geoscan-4	—	SSDV pictures	—
Geoscan-5	—	SSDV pictures	—
Monitor-3	—	SSTV pictures	—
UTMN2	—	SSTV pictures	—
WREN	—	SSTV pictures	—

Where it comes from The dates, the countries or organisations and the operators are those of SatMe-PC's cards, in their words, asked the same way for every satellite; the international designators, AMSAT's bulletin's (or the site's elements'); the picture satellites, SatMe's SSTV and SSDV list (SatNOGS DB). The size is asked only when a source says it. What no source says (—) is not asked.