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ZIMSAT-1(BIRDS-5Y)

Zimbabwe’s 1st orbiting satellite carrying the promise of gathering data on land use and cover, soil fertility, and water quality assessment. The nation’s first jab at space stuff.
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ZIMSAT-1

BACKGROUND

The Kyushu Institute of Technology in Japan, with assistance from Zimbabwean scientists, manufactured Zimbabwe's first satellite, ZimSat-1. ZimSat-1, an earth-observation and data-transmission satellite equipped with a four-band multispectral optical imager, monitored downlinks and uplinks images of Zimbabwean regions from the Mazowe Earth satellite station, located in the Mashonaland central province of Zimbabwe. ZIMSAT-1 was for monitoring floods in remote areas and transmitting that data to the Zimbabwe National Geospatial and Space Agency (ZINGSA).



ZIMSAT-1 MISSION

The mission allowed monitoring of Land Use and Land Cover (LULC), soil fertility, water quality, attitude visualization, and radio communication. The Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) digipeater provided a digital message relay service to the amateur radio community.

The BIRDS 5 multispectral camera assessed water quality of lakes or dams using 1U satellite with spatial resolution of 100m. Soil fertility levels could be analyzed via GIS software. 3D satellite models were visualized based on solar panel voltage and gyro data.

Agriculture Applications

  • Useful for crop health monitoring, yield prediction, plant nutrient detection, vegetation classification, and NDVI calculation.

Agriculture Mapping

  • ZimSat-1 provided information on crop health, harvest estimates, and soil fertility.

Environmental Monitoring

  • Monitored environmental hazards, droughts, and water quality.

Natural Disaster Detection

  • Detected natural disasters such as floods and landslides.

Mineral Exploration

  • Provided data on mineral quantities.

Human Settlement Mapping

  • Mapped human settlements.
Technical Details Specifications
Platform class1U CubeSat
Dimensions10 x 10 x 10 cm
Mass1.33 kg
PowerSolar panels
CommunicationRadio frequency (RF)
OrbitLow Earth Orbit (LEO)
Primary PayloadMultispectral camera, amateur radio transceiver