MITA: An Italian minisatellite for small missions

On July 15th 2000 the first MITA (Italian Advanced Technology Minisatellite) was launched from Plesetsk (Russia) by a Cosmos rocket as a piggy-back of the CHAMP satellite. The main purpose of the first MITA mission is its in-flight validation. Furthermore the scientific payload NINA-2 of INFN (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare) and the technological payload MTS-AOMS (Micro Tech Sensor for Attitude and Orbit Measurement System) were embarked. The NINA-2 goal is the survey of galactic and solar cosmic rays at 450 km altitude. MTS is an ESA multi-tasking autonomous sensor based on Active Pixel Sensor (star and horizon sensor), Angular Rate Sensor and Magnetic Field Sensor. In this paper the main MITA bus characteristics are reported, together with the description of the launch and the first commissioning phase. The first mission nominal orbit is circular, with a 450 Km altitude and a 87° inclination. The satellite attitude is nadir pointing, 3 axes stabilised. Spacecraft mass is 169.9 Kg. Two fixed solar panels provide an average power of 85 W EOL. The configuration of the satellite main body is based on a cubic shape module, made of Aluminium beams and honeycomb panels. The Mission Control Center is placed in Rome, while the TT&C stations are in Cordoba (Argentina) and, only during the commissioning phase, in Malindi (Kenia); Malindi TT&C station will then be replaced by Fucino (Italy). Since the contacts between spacecraft and the TT&C stations do not occur every orbit, the satellite on board S/W was designed in order to reach the nominal mode without telecommand from ground.