SAFIR

OHB System and the German Space Agency (DARA) have undertaken a program of small communications satellites named SAFIR (Satellite for Information Relay). The first of the series, SAFIR-R1, was launched on 4 November 1994 attached to the Russian Resurs 0-1 spacecraft. The 38-kg package was not released for this initial test of messaging service in a 660-km orbit, but it did carry a Rockwell SpaceNav V GPS receiver. Additional SAFIR-Rand free-flying SAFIR spacecraft are scheduled for flights in 1996 and 1997 on board other Russian launch vehicles. The SAFIR spacecraft will have a mass of 55 kg in the form of a 0.45-m cube and a gravity-gradient stabilization system. Communications will be in the 400 MHz band.