On March 22, 2021, another small Hungarian satellite was launched into space. After several postponements, a 5x5x5cm SMOG-1 satellite made at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics with the financial support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary was launched from Baikonur with a Russian Soyuz / Frigate rocket. Following a successful launch and the multi-stage orbital flight process, the first signals from the SMOG-1 satellite can be expected in the middle of the week.
The primary mission of the satellite is to study human-induced electromagnetic pollution in the area around the Earth. As a secondary mission, a total ionizing dose meter was placed on board to examine the effect of particles from the Sun on electronics. As a tertiary mission, magnetically lossy material with a braking effect has been inserted under the solar panels, which is expected to reduce orbital life from 18 to 25 years in order to reduce the amount of time spent as space debris around the Earth after satellite activity.
