BRAC Onnesha: learn the whole small-satellite mission

BRAC ONNESHA, usually written BRAC Onnesha, was developed through the first BIRDS project, bringing BRAC University students together with Kyushu Institute of Technology in Japan. BRAC names Abdulla Hil Kafi, Raihana Shams Islam Antara and Maisun Ibn Monowar as the three engineers. Their work connects an individual small satellite to the broader BIRDS approach of learning through a shared international development effort.

JAXA records the deployment of five BIRDS CubeSats from the International Space Station on 7 July 2017. BRAC’s account identifies Onnesha in that event. A rocket first transported the spacecraft as cargo; release from the station was a later milestone. The university’s deployment article has a 31 July publication label, but its narrative describes 7 July. Separating event time from publication time keeps the mission sequence clear.

BRAC University inaugurated its student-built ground station on 25 May 2017, before deployment. The station provided a place to connect the spacecraft’s radio signals to usable records on Earth. That requires more than an antenna: the team needs tracking information, receiver settings, decoding software, time records and a way to distinguish its spacecraft from other signals.

Imagine a predicted pass lasts six minutes. During four minutes, the receiver obtains a stable decodable signal. At an assumed useful rate of 1,200 bits per second, that interval can carry 288,000 bits, or 36,000 bytes. This simplified example ignores packet overhead, gaps and retransmissions. Using the full six minutes would overstate what the stated usable interval supports. These numbers are a teaching scenario, not measured Onnesha performance.

Budget the usable contact interval

A reception log should distinguish hearing a signal, identifying the spacecraft, decoding a valid packet and interpreting a payload result. Those steps answer different questions. A packet with a valid checksum can still be misinterpreted if its fields, scale factors or units are wrong. Comparing decoded values with known test packets helps reveal that kind of error before an orbital result is announced.

BRAC’s later account of the 2019 BIRDS workshop shows continuing exchange around the project and identifies its engineers. A commemorative event does not establish that the satellite was still operating at that date. The lasting educational result can include trained people, test procedures and a working ground team even after a mission ends. Onnesha’s university engineering role should also remain distinct from the large communications service introduced by Bangladesh Satellite-1.