ET-SMART-RSS, formerly known as EthSat6U, is an Ethiopian earth observation 6U CubeSat developed jointly by the Ethiopian Space Science and Technology Institute (ESSTI) and the Chinese Smart Satellite Technology to provide earth observation services to China and African countries. It is also known as Zhixing 1A.
ESSTI has also become a strategic partner of Smart Satellite?s African business, and both sides have pledged to jointly expand the African space market in the future. The nanosatellite was recently renamed ET-SMART-RSS from EthSat6U to show the cooperation between ESSTI and SMART boldly (ET = Ethiopia/ ESSTI and SMART = Beijing Smart Satellite Technology and RSS = Remote Sensing Satellite).
ESSTI prepared the preliminary design of the satellite and then the critical design. Smart Satellite handled the manufacturing, assembly, integration and testing (MAIT) in close consultation with the ESSTI team.
The satellite was launched in December 2020 on a Chinese launch vehicle from Wenchang.
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