The paper "The In-Orbit Performance of four Microsat Spacecraft" by King, McGweir, Price and White, was first published in the Proceedings of the 4th Annual AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites in August of 1990.  Subsequently it was also published in the Proceedings of the 1990 AMSAT-NA Space Symposium, Houston, TX and the AMSAT-NA Journal in late 1990.  The abstract is included below.

This paper is perhaps the best overall description of the Microsats.  It includes descriptions of the hardware and software as well as discussing the unique, and at that time ground breaking, technology employed.  As of this writing (August 1999) the AO-16 Microsat has been running its digital store and forward messaging software continuously for nearly 4 years without a hardware or software problem.

This paper can be obtained for a nominal copying fee from:

AMSAT-NA
850 Sligo Ave., Suite 600
Silver Spring, MD 20910-4703
U.S.A

The In-Orbit Performance of four Microsat Spacecraft

Abstract

On January 22, 1990, Arian V-35 placed four Microsat spacecraft into orbit.   The orbit achieved is nearly perfectly syn-synchronous at 800 km altitude.   The satellites, cubic structure measuring only 23 cm per side, were developed by the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation of North America (AMSAT-NA).  The time required to complete the project, from conception to delivery of the four satellites to Kourou, was exactly two years.  Each satellite in orbit has a different mission and is performing in accordance with its intended design, although additional software is still being written to enhance the operating characteristics for each mission.

This paper reviews the design objectives of the four spacecraft and summarizes their in-orbit performance against these pre-launch technical objectives.  The level of technology employed by the Microsat spacecraft is briefly discussed and the software operating system is summarized.  The paper reviews the AMSAT experience as the first payload user group of the Arian ASAP structure.  Some of the findings regarding the current technology and how it may be expanded to fulfill other mission needs has been touched upon.