Two years ago, our company embarked on its first journey into space: on August 9, 2022, we successfully launched our first satellite, Geoscan-Edelveis, into orbit from the Baikonur Cosmodrome!
This milestone was marked by several significant achievements:
- the simultaneous launch of 16 Russian satellites, including Geoscan-Edelveis, set a record in the history of the Russian rocket and space industry at that time;
- Geoscan-Edelveis became the first private microsatellite from St. Petersburg to reach orbit;
- for the first time in Russia, we launched a satellite carrying the names of 22,772 everyone interested into space;
- Geoscan-Edelveis also hosted the first successful in-space flight tests of a thruster for cubesats designed in our country.
During its 18 months in orbit, our satellite became one of the most recognized amateur radio satellites globally, ranking in the top 25 for the amount of data received by the international SatNOGS network. During this time, it transmitted around 600 images of Earth, the Sun, and outer space to radio enthusiasts worldwide, even capturing the aurora borealis triggered by a powerful solar flare. The last communication session with Geoscan-Edelveis took place on February 18, 2024, over Australia. It spent a total of 360 million kilometers in the orbit, before eventually burning up in the atmosphere.
Geoscan-Edelveis marked the beginning of our company’s space era. Following this mission, we launched the StratoSat TK-1, a cubesat we developed for the Stratonautica company. Additionally, in collaboration with the Innovation Promotion Foundation and the Autonomous Nonprofit Organization “Space Education Development,” we initiated the SONIKS project — a school network of open ground stations for receiving satellite data. Now we are preparing to launch five new satellites as part of the Space-π project.
To commemorate the second anniversary of Geoscan-Edelveis’ launch, we have created a film about this groundbreaking project. The film highlights the team behind the launch, shares insights from radio amateurs who worked with our satellite, and includes discussions with Geoscan employees about our ongoing space projects.
Watch it now!