UniSat-5 (University Satellite 5) is the sixth satellite designed and manufactured by GAUSS Srl. UniSat-5 design and manufacturing will involve also students and researchers from the Space Science Center of Morehead State University (MSU).
UniSat-5 is a civilian scientific microsatellite and its primary mission is to test researcher?s home grown equipment in the space conditions, create heritage for the follow-on missions and provide hands on experience and training for students from different universities. The satellite, manufactured by university students and researchers, will carry four principal payloads:
- GlioSat, a space biomedical experiment with the goal of investigating the combined effects of microgravity and ionizing radiation on Glioblastoma cells behavior, lead by the Aerospace Engineering School with the support of IRCCS research center and Space Science Center at Morehead State University
- A stand-alone system for high definition digital imaging. The purpose of this systemwas to observe Earth?s surface, as well as space debris in situ. It is composed of a camera, a telescope, C-band & S-band transceivers. Every component of this system is a commercially available product
- MRFOD, a student-built technology demonstrator which resulted in the ejection of femtosatellites built to the PocketQube form factor (under 400 gr) proposed by Professor Robert J. Twiggs (currently at Morehead State University). The femtosatellites Wren, $50SAT, Beakersat-1 (designed by MSU students) and QBScout-1 were ejected from UniSat-5 using an orbital deployer called the Morehead-Roma FemtoSat Orbital Deployer (MRFOD)
- GAUSS CubeSat Deployer System, a student-built technology demonstrator which allowed the deployment CubeSats. The system designed by GAUSS allows the in orbit injection of ICube-1, HumSat-D, PUCP-SAT 1 and Dove-4. Dove-4 failed to deploy.