EO·Atlas
SumbandilaSat
Compiled from public sources on 2026-06-21. Not independently verified by South African National Space Agency.
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SumbandilaSat / ZA-002 was a South African microsatellite Earth-observation and technology-demonstration mission.[1][2] It launched on 2009-09-17 on Soyuz-2-1b/Fregat from Baikonur LC-31/6 and operated in Sun-synchronous low Earth orbit.[1][2] The main imager produced six visible bands at 6.25 m ground sampling across an approximately 45 km swath, with 12-bit imagery.[2] The mission delivered 1,128 usable high-resolution images for disaster management and environmental applications, including Namibia flood monitoring and Kruger fire campaigns.[1] Primary imaging ended after radiation damage in 2011, and the spacecraft decayed on 2021-12-10.[1][3]
All fields
| current status | ended |
| operator | South African National Space Agency |
| platform | sumbandilasat-bus |
| launch vehicle | roscosmos-soyuz-2 |
| Launched | 2009-09-17 |
| actual end of life | 2021-12-10 |
| orbit type | Sun-synchronous LEO; Gunter reports 490 x 503 km and 97.37 deg at launch-era orbit, while CelesTrak records atmospheric decay on 2021-12-10. |
| swath km | 45 |
| tasking supported | false |
| current geographic priority | South African and Southern African public-interest imaging, including disaster monitoring and environmental applications; no commercial tasking pathway verified. |
| Last updated | 2026-06-21 |
| claim status | agency-sourced |
Compositional position
- [1]Farewell to SumbandilaSat, a proudly South African satelliteoperator press2022-02-072026-06-21
- [2]Sumbandila, Gunter Space Pagecommunity-2026-06-21
- [3]CelesTrak SATCAT record for SUMBANDILAcommunity-2026-06-21