MIR-SAT1: turn a radio contact into a usable file

Mauritius’s MIR-SAT1 project was selected through the UNOOSA–JAXA KiboCUBE initiative in 2018. The Mauritius Research and Innovation Council worked with AAC Clyde Space on the 1U spacecraft. It traveled to the station on CRS-22 on 3 June 2021 and was deployed on 22 June. Its archive card uses the designation MirSat-OSCAR-112. These are names for the same spacecraft, not two separate national missions.

MRIC describes an imaging payload and an experimental communications module, supported by an antenna system, a control room and a laboratory setup. Those ground facilities are part of the mission. The first received signal is an important milestone, but a short health message is different from a complete image. Operators must establish which commands work, which data arrived and whether the returned files are interpretable.

Imagine a small image divided into 100 numbered packets. During one contact the receiver records 100 packet arrivals, but 10 are repeats of packets already received. There are only 90 distinct packets, leaving 10 missing. Counting reception events alone would falsely suggest a complete file. This simplified example assumes the image requires all 100 packets and has no repair scheme that can reconstruct missing content.

On a later contact, the team can request or receive the missing packet numbers, then verify the reconstructed file. A checksum helps detect a changed or corrupted file; it does not establish that the camera was calibrated or pointed at the desired target. File integrity, image interpretation and mission usefulness are separate checks. Avoid treating one successful check as proof that all the others passed.

Count packets, not just reception events

A laboratory representation of connected spacecraft electronics is often called a flat-sat — open definition. MRIC includes such a facility in its ground segment. It can help a team rehearse commands and investigate software behavior without experimenting first on the orbiting spacecraft. It does not reproduce every temperature, radiation condition or radio geometry encountered in flight, so the results still need appropriate limits.

The educational value of MIR-SAT1 includes learning these operational distinctions. A school receiving telemetry can identify signals and inspect records; the mission operator has additional responsibilities for commands and spacecraft management. Clear procedures let participants contribute without confusing reception with control. A first satellite becomes a durable learning opportunity when its team preserves both the returned data and an explanation of how those data were produced.