Perseus (CubeSat 6U)

The Perseus platform is a small satellite bus of up to 50 kg developed by Dauria Aerospace in 2012-2013, built on the CubeSat 6U form factor (10x20x30 cm). It uses industrial-class components that have been flight-qualified in orbit on other experimental satellites, plus Dauria’s own in-house Ka-band transmitter for high-speed downlink. The platform carries body-mounted gallium-arsenide solar arrays (optionally supplemented by deployable panels) and lithium-ion batteries, delivering 6-12 W to the payload. Attitude control is provided by three reaction wheels for precise three-axis pointing plus three magnetorquers for wheel desaturation and coarse control, enabling Earth observation missions. Two Perseus-M satellites built on this platform completed flight testing and were sold to US company Aquila Space in late 2015, demonstrating the platform’s suitability for low-cost, rapidly modifiable, serially producible small satellites that can be launched on standard CubeSat 6U dispensers aboard a wide range of launch vehicles, including Russia’s Dnepr and Soyuz.