GRUS [AXELSPACE]
Official name GRUS-1C
Alternative name GRUS-1C
Cospar ID 2021-022B
Norad ID 47933
Launch date 2021-03-22
Launch site TTMTR
Launch vehicle Soyuz-2-1a Fregat
Country/Organization Japan
Type application Earth observation
Operator AXELSPACE (GRUS); FSTRA (Fukui Prefectural Satellite)
RCS size MEDIUM
Decay date ON ORBIT
Period (min) 96.25
Inclination (deg) 97.63
Perigee (km) 566
Apogee (km) 592
Eccentricity 0.0224525043177893
Mean motion (revs. per day) 14.961038961039
Semi-Major axis (km) 6957.135
Raan (deg) 25.4688
Arg of perigee (deg) 25.9376
Shape Box
Mass (kg) 80
Height (m) 0.5
Width (m) 0.5
Depth (m) 0.5
Span (m^2) 0.5
Lifetime > 5 years
Contractors AXELSPACE
Propulsion None
Power Solar cells, batteries

GRUS is a constellation of 80 kg Earth observation micro-satellites developed by Axelspace. They are equipped with high-performance optical telescopes, which enable them to take images with 2.5 m ground resolution and over 50 km swath.

GRUS can obtain panchromatic images (having sensitivity in all bands from visible to near infrared and normally expressed in grayscale format) and multi-spectral images (having sensitivity only in a specific band; blue, green, red, red edge and near infrared respectively). The ground resolution is 2.5 m for panchromatic images, 5.0 m for multi-spectral images.

GRUS satellites are equipped with high-performance telescopes with cutting-edge image sensors and the swath of its image spans over 50 km to realize efficient covering of the entire globe. By launching many GRUS satellites, it enables to update every information around the globe every day, and to apply those data to various industries including agriculture, forestry, fishery, mapping, GIS and disaster monitoring.

The three first-generation GRUS satellites were to be launched in 2018, with more satellites planned to follow to form the AxelGlobe constellation. The satellites were manifested to fly with Kanopus-V 3 and 4 on a Soyuz-2-1a Fregat, but were replaced by mass models on the actual launch. GRUS 1A will now launch with Kanopus-V 5 and 6 on a Soyuz-2-1a Fregat. GRUS 1B and 1C will follow in 2020. A fourth satellite built for FSTRA, the Fukui Prefectural Satellite or GRUS 1D, is identical and will operate together with the three AXELSPACE owned satellites.

Satellite COSPAR Date LS Launch Vehicle Remarks
GRUS-1A 2018-111Q 2018-12-27 VOSTO Soyuz-2-1a Fregat with Kanopus-V 5, Kanopus-V 6, GRUS 1A, Flock-3k 1, ..., 12, Lemur-2 88, ..., 95, D-Star ONE iSat, D-Star ONE Sparrow, ZACUBE 2, Lume 1, UWE 4, Dummy, SAMSON-Dummy 1, 2, 3
GRUS-1C 2021-022B 2021-03-22 TTMTR Soyuz-2-1a Fregat with CAS500 1, ELSA-d Servicer, ELSA-d Client, GRUS 1B, ..., 1E, Najm 1, DMSat 1, UniSat 7, BCCSAT 1, FEES, DIY 1, SMOG 1, STECCO, SAMSON 1, 2, 3, Kepler 6, 7, NanoSatC-Br 2, KMSL, CANYVAL-C 1, 2, BeeSat 5, ..., 8, Hiber 3, CubeSX-HSE, CubeSX-Sirius-HSE, Orbicraft-Zorkiy, WildTrackCube-SIMBA, GRBAlpha, 3B5GSAT, LacunaSat 2b, ChallengeOne, KSU-Cubesat
GRUS-1B 2021-022C 2021-03-22 TTMTR Soyuz-2-1a Fregat with CAS500 1, ELSA-d Servicer, ELSA-d Client, GRUS 1B, ..., 1E, Najm 1, DMSat 1, UniSat 7, BCCSAT 1, FEES, DIY 1, SMOG 1, STECCO, SAMSON 1, 2, 3, Kepler 6, 7, NanoSatC-Br 2, KMSL, CANYVAL-C 1, 2, BeeSat 5, ..., 8, Hiber 3, CubeSX-HSE, CubeSX-Sirius-HSE, Orbicraft-Zorkiy, WildTrackCube-SIMBA, GRBAlpha, 3B5GSAT, LacunaSat 2b, ChallengeOne, KSU-Cubesat
GRUS-1E 2021-022D 2021-03-22 TTMTR Soyuz-2-1a Fregat with CAS500 1, ELSA-d Servicer, ELSA-d Client, GRUS 1B, ..., 1E, Najm 1, DMSat 1, UniSat 7, BCCSAT 1, FEES, DIY 1, SMOG 1, STECCO, SAMSON 1, 2, 3, Kepler 6, 7, NanoSatC-Br 2, KMSL, CANYVAL-C 1, 2, BeeSat 5, ..., 8, Hiber 3, CubeSX-HSE, CubeSX-Sirius-HSE, Orbicraft-Zorkiy, WildTrackCube-SIMBA, GRBAlpha, 3B5GSAT, LacunaSat 2b, ChallengeOne, KSU-Cubesat
GRUS-1D 2021-022E 2021-03-22 TTMTR Soyuz-2-1a Fregat with CAS500 1, ELSA-d Servicer, ELSA-d Client, GRUS 1B, ..., 1E, Najm 1, DMSat 1, UniSat 7, BCCSAT 1, FEES, DIY 1, SMOG 1, STECCO, SAMSON 1, 2, 3, Kepler 6, 7, NanoSatC-Br 2, KMSL, CANYVAL-C 1, 2, BeeSat 5, ..., 8, Hiber 3, CubeSX-HSE, CubeSX-Sirius-HSE, Orbicraft-Zorkiy, WildTrackCube-SIMBA, GRBAlpha, 3B5GSAT, LacunaSat 2b, ChallengeOne, KSU-Cubesat