Payload on Ariane 6 for the Young Professionals

The project began almost a year ago, with the news that there was a payload opportunity on the Ariane 6 inaugural flight. After brainstorming and discussing with experts, the ‘KISS’ principle (Keep It Simple, Stupid) was applied to design the satellite, and in February 2022 ESA officially announced that YPSat had been selected.

Since then, the team has been busy designing, procuring, developing, and manufacturing elements, and has grown from just 3 members to over 50. This dynamic, multicultural community cooperates across Directorate and establishment boundaries to work together for a common objective: building and launching an experimental payload in less than a year.

“Allow me to say a few words and express my full support to the project, what the project is doing and what the young professionals in ESA are doing; my admiration for the energy, the motivation, the aspiration, and the dedication that I have seen in implementing this project.” said Torben Henriksen during the YPSat Presentation. 

This project is one of a kind. As Torben said in his introduction to the presentation: “It has been some years since we have actively been designing, building and testing a spacecraft at ESTEC.” The construction of YPSat itself will already be an achievement for the young professionals collaborating on the project. The initiative represents a unique opportunity for both the team and ESA, being a testament to what the ESA early career programmes can facilitate: the opportunity for young professionals to see their work being launched into space.

Find out more about the YPSat project by viewing these slides.

The YPSat initiative is one of the many interesting activities that Young ESA is working on. Young ESA is a group of young professionals working across the different ESA sites. Its goal is to design and develop interesting initiatives for young professionals to help them develop their career within the space industry. Are you a young professional working at ESA? Would you like to become part of  to contribute to other interesting projects? Feel free to drop us a message at Young.ESA@esa.int