28 April 2008: PSLV-C9 Launches Six International CubeSats Including TU Delft’s Batteryless 3U Delfi-C3 (DO-64), AAUSAT-II, COMPASS-1 and CanX-2
On 28 April 2008, ISRO’s PSLV-C9 placed six European, Canadian, and Japanese CubeSats into a 635 km Sun-synchronous orbit, led by TU Delft’s 3U Delfi-C3.
On 28 April 2008, India’s PSLV-C9 launched from Sriharikota carrying Cartosat-2A and the NLS-4 cluster of six university CubeSats coordinated by the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS/SFL): TU Delft’s 3U Delfi-C3, Aalborg University’s 1U AAUSAT-II, FH Aachen’s 1U COMPASS-1, UTIAS’s 3U CanX-2, Nihon University’s 1U SEEDS-II, and Tokyo Tech’s 1U CUTE-1.7+APD II.
TU Delft’s 3U Delfi-C3 (designated DO-64) pioneered a batteryless electrical power architecture—operating directly off four deployable solar panels during sunlit orbital arcs—to qualify thin-film Copper Indium Diselenide (CIS) solar cells, an autonomous wireless sun sensor, and a 40 kHz linear V/U transponder.
The 2008 PSLV-C9 and 2009 PSLV-C14 (which deployed EPFL’s 1U SwissCube-1, TU Berlin’s BEESAT-1, and İTÜ’s ITUpSAT1) cemented European university leadership in 1U–3U nanosatellite systems engineering.
CELESTRAK SATCAT & TELEMETRY RECORD
Verified Spacecraft Key Facts & Orbital Dossier
| Spacecraft | Class | Operator / Country | Launch & Vehicle | NORAD / COSPAR | Orbit & RF Downlink | Catalog Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Delfi-C3 | 3U | TU Delft NL | PSLV-C9 | NORAD 32789 2008-021G | LEO, Sun-synchronous VHF / UHF | Decayed |
SwissCube | 1U | EPFL CH | PSLV-C14 | NORAD 35932 2009-051B | LEO, Sun-synchronous 437.505 MHz (UHF) | Active |
Catalogued Mission Summaries & Flight Notes
- Delfi-C3 (3U, 2008):
- The first Dutch nanosatellite, flying battery-less with thin-film solar cell and wireless sun sensor experiments. Its student team went on to found ISISPACE. Fifteen and a half years of operation. Its hysteresis-rod despin took months instead of hours because rods near the magnet were saturated.
- SwissCube (1U, 2009):
- Switzerland’s first satellite, testing low-cost detectors for airglow measurements. Operational in SatNOGS DB; CW and 1k2 FSK beacons listed as active.