King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok Held a Press Conference Announcing “KNACKSAT S

King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok Held a Press Conference Announcing “KNACKSAT Satellite Successfully Deployed into Orbit”

18 December 2018

On 18 December 2018, King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok (KMUTNB) held a press conference to announce that KNACKSAT, a 1U-CubeSat satellite, has been successfully deployed into to a Sun-Synchronous Low Earth Orbit. The first entirely Thai-built satellite, KNACKSAT results from a collaboration of more than 20 students and faculty members at KMUTNB. KNACKSAT is an acronym for KMUTNB Academic Challenge of Knowledge SATellite.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Habil. Suchart Siengchin, President of KMUTNB, and KNACKSAT researchers declared that KNACKSAT has been successfully deployed into the orbit along with 63 satellites from 17 countries by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket under Spaceflight’s SSO-A: Smallsat Express Mission. SpaceFlight confirmed deployment of KNACKSAT at 05:49:57 (GMT+7) on 4 December 2018. At 14:04 (GMT+7), KNACKSAT’s First Voice was detected by Mike Rupprecht, a German amateur radio operator. KNACKSAT’s signal was also again identified by the same amateur radio operator on the same day at 17:41 (GMT+7). Two more signals were further detected by Fatc Mubin, an Indonesian amateur radio operator, on 5 and 7 December 2018, respectively. These identifications confirm that KNACKSAT is alive, and has successfully begun its first mission in space. The Thai researchers are diligently working toward identifying KNACKSAT’s signal using the local ground station located at KMUTNB

KNACKSAT project is funded by Broadcasting and Telecommunications Research and Development Fund for the Public Interest under Office of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission. KMUTNB’s aims include inspiring the next generation of Thai children to pursue the field of science and technology and building human resources for the future of Thai space industry, where more satellites may be produced and used extensively for educational as well as commercial purposes.

More information on KNACKSAT can be found at http://www.knacksat.space/ or Facebook or Twitter @KNACKSAT.