MaqSat-H, MaqSat-B & YES

MaqSat B (Maquette Satellite - Bas) is a dummy payload. The ARIANE 502 payload consists of three components: The lower Instrumented Platform (MaqSat B), the upper Instrumented Payload (MaqSat H), and TEAMSAT (Technology education Experiment Added To MAQSat) (various experiments of European universities) which is added to MaqSat H. The platforms are developed, manufactured, and tested by Kayser-Threde, Munich, and correspond to about 90% of the total payload mass. MaqSat B, 2340 kg in mass, simulates a virtual satellite with a very stiff structure. Accelerations and contamination will be measured simultaneously during ascent. These sensors have been provided by CASA, Spain.

MaqSat H (Maquette Satellite - Haute) is a dummy payload. The ARIANE 502 payload consists of three components: The lower Instrumented Platform (MaqSat B), the upper Instrumented Payload (MaqSat H), and TEAMSAT (Technology education Experiment Added To MAQSat) (various experiments of European universities) which is added to MaqSat H. The platforms are developed, manufactured, and tested by Kayser-Threde, Munich, and correspond to about 90% of the total payload mass. MaqSat H, 2290 kg in mass including TEAMSAT, 5 m in height, will use 34 sensors to measure acceleration, vibration, shock, and acoustic noise at different locations. On an instrumentation plate flight data (32 Mbyte) will be recorded within the first four minutes after ignition. Immediately afterward, the data will be transmitted down to Kourou within the following 4 minutes. The MAQSATH structure itself, including a simulating solar panel, will fulfill various frequency and stiffness requirements and has the dimensions of a typical large communications satellite. The evaluation of the flight data will result in an understanding and validity of the environmental requirements for future satellites launched on Ariane-5G.

Delta-Utec is the initiator of the YES (Young Engineer's Satellite), a satellite full of experimental technology for space applications, built at record low cost in an extremely short time by young engineers and students. It was proposed in October 1996 at the IAF in Beijing and then supported in writing by e.g. Arthur C. Clarke. 1 Year later YES had already been launched on the Ariane-5G (L-502) qualification flight as a part of the ESA/ESTEC scientific payload TEAMSAT. In an extremely short time frame over 40 young engineers and students from 10 European countries built a satellite with the help of experienced ESA employees. YES featured a number of student-built experiments: Among others a GPS receiver and a 70 km tether experiment. Unfortunately, the tether experiment had to be deactivated before launch, due to analysis by space debris experts of the risks generated by the tether to other spacecraft during its estimated lifetime in geo-transfer orbit.