01/12/2023
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Six years of laborious work and dedication paid off in spectacular vogue as we speak, because the Instructional Irish Analysis Satellite tv for pc, EIRSAT-1, efficiently blasted off from Vandenberg House Pressure Base, California. Hitching a experience on a House-X Falcon-9 launcher, the tiny satellite tv for pc – measuring simply 10.7cm x 10.7cm x 22.7cm – has now made historical past as Eire’s first satellite tv for pc!
EIRSAT-1 was designed, built, and tested by college students from College Faculty Dublin (UCD) taking part in ESA Academy’s Fly Your Satellite tv for pc! programme, a hands-on initiative supporting college pupil groups to develop their very own satellites based on skilled requirements. The launch alternative itself was offered by ESA.
ESA consultants have been on-hand all through the satellite tv for pc’s improvement to supply coaching and steering to dozens of UCD college students. Their studying journey additionally included check campaigns at ESA Schooling’s CubeSat Help Facility in Belgium, and devoted spacecraft communications classes each at ESA Academy’s Coaching and Studying Centre and on the European House Operations Centre in Darmstadt Germany, to be taught Eire’s first spacecraft operations procedures.
“I want to wholeheartedly congratulate the EIRSAT-1 workforce for this profitable launch and the beginning of Eire’s first thrilling journey in orbit,” mentioned Josef Aschbacher, ESA Director Common. I’d additionally prefer to thank UCD for becoming a member of forces with ESA in the direction of a typical academic goal: boosting the talents of the younger era,” he continued. “It’s solely by constructing capability that we will make our area ambitions change into a actuality, for Eire and for Europe. With our Schooling programme we’re nurturing generations of residents who’re studying to make use of area know-how and area options with a purpose to make a distinction for our society, our planet and our future.”
From low earth orbit EIRSAT-1 will perform three most important experiments, which have been constructed from scratch by the scholars:
- GMOD, a detector to check gamma ray bursts, that are essentially the most luminous explosions within the universe and happen when an enormous star dies or two stars collide.
- EMOD, an experiment to see how a thermal remedy protects the floor of a satellite tv for pc when in area.
- WBC, an experiment to check a brand new methodology of utilizing Earth’s magnetic discipline to vary a satellite tv for pc’s orientation in area.
Following EIRSAT-1’s deployment to orbit, the scholar workforce is now working to determine contact with the satellite tv for pc and begin operations from their devoted floor management facility, additionally solely operated by college students and positioned at UCD in Dublin.
“The workforce at ESA Schooling want to be part of ESA DG in expressing their heartfelt congratulations to the EIRSAT-1 college students for attaining their unbelievable targets,” mentioned Hugo Marée, Head of the ESA Schooling Workplace.
“Not solely has EIRSAT-1 made historical past by being Eire’s first satellite tv for pc, nevertheless it has additionally impressed a era of Irish college college students to develop their ambitions greater. This has been achieved due to the inspiration activities organized by ESERO Eire (a collaboration between ESA and Science Basis Eire) round this mission,” he continued. “I’m happy with our Schooling programme which is ready to encourage and have interaction totally different age teams in the direction of a future profession in STEM.”
Keep tuned for extra information at https://www.esa.int/Schooling/CubeSats_-_Fly_Your_Satellite/
Contacts
Joost Vanreusel, Head of the ESA Academy Programme – joost.vanreusel@esa.int
Alex Kinnaird, ESA Academy, Fly Your Satellite tv for pc! Programme Coordinator- alex.kinnaird@esa.int
