Names | MOST |
---|---|
Mission type | Astronomy |
Operator | CSA |
COSPAR ID | 2003-031D |
SATCAT no. | 27843 |
Website | MOST home page |
Mission duration | Final: 15 years, 9 months |
Spacecraft properties | |
Launch mass | 53 kg (117 lb) |
Dimensions | 60 cm × 60 cm × 24 cm (23.6 in × 23.6 in × 9.4 in) |
Power | 35 W |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 30 June 2003, 14:15UTC |
Rocket | Rockot/Briz-KM |
Launch site | Plesetsk 133/3 |
Contractor | Eurockot |
End of mission | |
Disposal | Decommissioned |
Deactivated | March 2019 |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric |
Regime | Polar |
Semi-major axis | 7,203 km (4,476 mi) |
Eccentricity | 0.0010821 |
Perigee altitude | 824.7 km (512.4 mi) |
Apogee altitude | 840.3 km (522.1 mi) |
Inclination | 98.7157 degrees |
Period | 101.4 minutes |
RAAN | 126.1054 degrees |
Argument of perigee | 129.3968 degrees |
Mean anomaly | 230.8168 degrees |
Mean motion | 14.20521415 rev/day |
Epoch | 27 April 2016, 11:16:58 UTC[1] |
Revolution no. | 66487 |
Main telescope | |
Type | Maksutov catadioptric |
Diameter | 15 cm (5.9 in) |
Focal length | 88.2 cm (34.7 in) |
Wavelengths | 350-750 nm (Visible light) |
The Microvariability and Oscillations of Stars/Microvariabilité et Oscillations STellaire (MOST), was Canada's first space telescope. Up until nearly 10 years after its launch it was also the smallest space telescope in orbit (for which its creators nicknamed it the "Humble Space Telescope", in reference to one of the largest, the Hubble).[2] MOST was the first spacecraft dedicated to the study of asteroseismology, subsequently followed by the now-completed CoRoT and Kepler missions. It was also the first Canadian science satellite launched since ISIS II, 32 years previously.