SumbandilaSat
| Mission type | Technology |
|---|---|
| Operator | University of Stellenbosch |
| COSPAR ID | 2009-049F |
| SATCAT no. | 35870 |
| Mission duration | 3 years (planned); 1 year and 9 months (achieved) |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Manufacturer | SunSpace |
| Launch mass | 81 kilograms (179 lb) |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 17 September 2009, 15:55:07 UTC |
| Rocket | Soyuz-2-1b/Fregat |
| Launch site | Baikonur Site 31/6 |
| End of mission | |
| Disposal | Damaged by solar storm |
| Last contact | 14 September 2011 |
| Decay date | 10 December 2021 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Regime | Low Earth |
| Perigee altitude | 447.7 kilometres (278.2 mi) |
| Apogee altitude | 449.8 kilometres (279.5 mi) |
| Inclination | 97.1 degrees |
| Period | 93.4 minutes |
| Epoch | 24 May 2015 |
SumbandilaSat (sometimes just Sumbandila, formerly ZASAT-002, AMSAT designation SO-67), was a South African micro Earth observation satellite, launched on 17 September 2009 on a Soyuz-2 launch vehicle from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The first part of the name, Sumbandila, is from the Venda language and means "lead the way".
The University of Stellenbosch, SunSpace and the CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) were key players in constructing SumbandilaSat. The CSIR's Satellite Application Centre (CSIR-SAC) was responsible for operations, telemetry, tracking, control as well as data capturing.
SumbandilaSat was part of a closely integrated South African space programme and served as a research tool to investigate the viability of affordable space technology. Furthermore, the data was used to, amongst others, monitor and manage disasters such as flooding, oil spills and fires within Southern Africa.
In June 2011 the satellite was damaged during a solar storm. The damage caused the on-board computer and the camera to stop functioning. This has caused it to stop fulfilling its primary objective and it has been written off as a loss by SunSpace, its builder. The final data packet from the satellite was received on 14 September 2011.