UoSAT-3

UoSAT-3, also known as UO-14 and OSCAR-14, is a British satellite in Low Earth Orbit. It was built by a spin-off company of the University of Surrey, Surrey Satellite Technology (SSTL) and launched in January 1990 from French Guiana.^[1] The satellite functioned as one of a series of OSCAR satellite in orbit around the Earth, as well as observing Earth and performing scientific experiments.^[2]

UoSAT-3

Mission type	OSCAR
Operator	University of Surrey
COSPAR ID	1990-005B[1]
SATCAT no.	20437
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer	SSTL
Start of mission
Launch date	22 January 1990, 01:35:27 (1990-01-22UTC01:35:27Z) UTC
Rocket	Ariane 40[2]
Launch site	Kourou ELA-2
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Sun-synchronous
Perigee altitude	776 km (482 mi)
Apogee altitude	792 km (492 mi)
Inclination	98.7491 degrees
Period	100.5 minutes
Epoch	15 April 2019, 21:11 UTC[3]
OSCAR ← OSCAR 13 OSCAR 15 →

UoSAT-3 was launched on the same rocket as its sister satellite, UoSAT-4.^[2]

Current status

UoSAT-3 exceeded its expected operational life by 3 years and ceased active service in 1999.^[4] However, amateur radio enthusiasts managed to track the satellite for a certain amount of time afterwards via the satellite's FM voice transponder.^[4]

The satellite, which is now non-operational, forms a part of the growing amounts of space debris orbiting around the Earth. The payload will decay in the Earth's atmosphere some time in the future.