QuakeTEC [APSS]
APSS 1 or QuakeTEC, also named Te Waka Āmiorangi o Aotearoa, is an 1U CubeSat developed by the University of Auckland's APSS (Auckland Programme for Space Systems) to test, if ionospheric disturbances can be used to predict earth quakes.
The QuakeTEC satellite carries a Langmuir probe and will measure the electron density in the ionosphere to determine the feasibility of detecting earthquakes in advance. The students will be using their satellites to investigate a debated theory, that seismic activity in the earth’s crust creates signatures in the ionosphere, a region of the atmosphere between 60 to a thousand kilometers above the earth’s surface.
The satellite was launched in late 2020 (delayed from late 2018) by an Electron KS (R) rocket.
Nation: | New Zealand |
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Type / Application: | Science, ionosphere |
Operator: | QuakeTEC, APSS |
Contractors: | APSS |
Equipment: | Langmuir probe |
Configuration: | |
Propulsion: | None |
Power: | Solar cells, batteries |
Lifetime: | 1 year |
Mass: | 1.33 kg |
Orbit: |
Satellite | COSPAR | Date | LS | Launch Vehicle | Remarks | |
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APSS 1 (QuakeTEC, Te Waka Āmiorangi o Aotearoa) | 2020-085D | 20.11.2020 | OnS LC-1A | Electron KS (R) | with Dragracer A, Dragracer B, BRO 2, BRO 3, Mandrake 1, SpaceBEE 22, ..., 39, SpaceBEENZ 1, ..., 6, Gnome Chompski |