PearlAfricaSat-1
| Mission type | Earth observation |
|---|---|
| Operator | Government of Uganda |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Manufacturer | Kyushu Institute of Technology |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 7 November 2022 |
| Rocket | Antares (NG-18) |
| Launch site | Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport |
| Deployed from | ISS |
| Deployment date | 2 December 2022 |
| End of mission | |
| Decay date | 2023 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric orbit |
| Regime | Low Earth orbit |
PearlAfricaSat-1 was a 1U CubeSat associated with Uganda’s first satellite mission and developed through a collaboration involving the Kyushu Institute of Technology in Japan. It launched on 7 November 2022 aboard the NG-18 Cygnus cargo mission to the International Space Station (ISS) and was deployed into orbit from the ISS on 2 December 2022.
According to news reports, the satellite formed part of Uganda’s efforts to develop domestic capacity in space engineering and to use Earth-observation data for applications such as agriculture, environmental monitoring, and disaster planning.
Tracking databases list PearlAfricaSat-1 as having reentered (decayed from orbit) in 2023.