Within the framework of an international BIRDS project, three Mongolian students at the Kyushu Institute of Technology finalized “Mazaalai” the first Mongolian miniature sized satellite on January 1.
The Joint Global Multi-Nation BIRDS Satellite project - acronym as “BIRDS project” - is a cross-border interdisciplinary satellite project, composed of the deans of universities, researchers, professors and graduate and postgraduate students working at the Kyushu Institute of Technology (KIT) in Fukuoka Prefecture of Japan. The project is for non-space faring countries supported by Japan and is participated by countries such as Mongolia, Ghana, Nigeria and Bangladesh. 
Three Mongolian students pursuing a doctorate degree at the Kyushu Institute of Technology, D.Erdenebaatar, D.Amartuvshin and T.Turtogtokh are in the team to build the first Mongolian satellite. The roles of Mongolian engineers in the project are divided into designing and developing a camera subsystem for the BIRDS satellites, in Electrical Power System in Productive section and Interface management in non-productive section of Satellite Development as well as in On-board Computer (OBC) system to provide reliable and proper operation of the brain for the satellites. 
On February 8, a press conference was held to deliver the “Mazaalai” satellite to the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency. The satellite will soon be transferred to NASA to be sent into space along with the regular supplies of the International Space Station in SpaceX rocket. Although the exact date is still unknown due to weather and other factors, the flight is scheduled in March. 
The miniature satellite is capable of taking 100m resolution images in the altitude of around 400km, transmitting data through 437MHz frequency modulation, identifying satellite locations, determining air density in the altitute of 400km, detecting space radiation and using ground stations as an international network.

Published Date:2017-02-14