A Peruvian nano-satellite has been released by space travelers aboard the International Space Station.
Oleg Artemyev was beginning a spacewalk from the orbiting outpost, when he threw the two-pound satellite, by hand, into orbit around the Earth. The spacewalker was standing on a ladder outside the station when he hurled the craft into the abyss.
Chasqui 1 is designed to collect images of the Earth, as well as to record data concerning temperatures and air pressure. The vehicle was created by researchers from the National Engineering University, located in Peru. It is a cube, roughly four inches on each side.
Launch of the spacecraft took place at 10:23 a.m. EDT, roughly 260 miles above the surface of the spinning blue globe beneath the vehicle.
"And away it goes," Rob Navias, commentator on NASA television, said, as the tiny spacecraft disappeared from view, according to Florida Today.
The spacewalk began at 10:02 a.m EDT, just over twenty minutes before the launch of the spacecraft, and lasted around six hours. Also taking part in the spacewalk with Artemyev was fellow Russian cosmonaut, Alexander Skvortsov. During the extravehicular activity, space travelers also replaced equipment located on the outside of the vehicle, and retrieved experiments.
The Chasqui 1 Research Nanosatellite project which produced Peru's first satellite was created to further space research managed by the United Nations. The observatory, weighing just 2.2 pounds, carries a pair of cameras, which beam images to mission controllers on the ground. One of these imaging devices views Earth in visible wavelengths, while the other records infrared frequencies of light, beyond human vision.
"The Chasqui 1 is an unprecedented effort to provide our country access to space for the first time and gives us the opportunity to open new application areas specific to our own geographical and social reality," Chasqui 1 managers stated in a press release.
Nanosatellites hold the promise of allowing researchers and private organizations the ability to carry out experiments in space with little financial investment.
This spacewalk was the 181st carried out in support of operations aboard the ISS. The experience was also the second spacewalk for the cosmonauts. Two additional extra vehicular activities are scheduled for the remainder of the year.
Artemyev and Skvortsov are joined on the station by Max Suraev, also of Russia, as well as Americans Steve Swanson and Reid Wiseman, and Alexander Gerst from Germany.
The International Space Station was constructed in space, with the first module launched into orbit in 1998. The vehicle has been continually inhabited since 2002.
