CUTE-1.7 + APD

CUTE-1.7 + APD
Mission type	Technology
Operator	Tokyo Institute of Technology
COSPAR ID	2006-005C
SATCAT no.	28941
Mission duration	0.2 years achieved
Spacecraft properties
Launch mass	3 kilograms (6.6 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date	February 21, 2006, 21:28:00 UTC
Rocket	M-V
Launch site	Uchinoura
End of mission
Last contact	March 16, 2006
Decay date	October 25, 2009
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Perigee altitude	299 kilometres (186 mi)
Apogee altitude	712 kilometres (442 mi)
Inclination	98.19 degrees
Period	94.72 minutes
Epoch	21 February 2006, 16:28:00 UTC

CUTE-1.7 + APD (Cubical Tokyo Tech Engineering satellite 1.7 plus Avalanche Photodiode)^[2] or CO-56 (Cubesat-Oscar-56^[3]) or just OSCAR 56 was an amateur radio satellite in the form of a double CubeSat.^{[citation needed]} The satellite used commercial off-the-shelf components extensively, in particular, it used the Hitachi NPD-20JWL PDA as a control computer, and it used a USB hub for sensor communications. At the end of its mission, the satellite was supposed to deploy an electrodynamic tether to help it deorbit. The satellite failed early into its mission, so the electodynamic tether experiment probably did not happen. It was launched on February 21 2006 on board a Japanese launcher M-V.

On March 16, 2006, the communication system malfunctioned so that it was transmitting unmodulated carrier wave and unable to communicate.^[4] The satellite decayed from orbit on 25 October 2009. A follow-up mission, CUTE-1.7 + APD II, was launched in April 2008 and remains operational.