Ready, set, integrate: 3Cat4 and ISTSat-1 CubeSats prepare to fly on Ariane 6
March 27th, 2024, marked a major milestone in the story of two student satellites, ³Cat-4 and ISTSat-1, as part of ESA Academy’s Fly Your Satellite! (FYS) programme. The students from the UPC NanoSat Lab of the Technical University of Catalonia, Spain, and University of Lisbon, Portugal, travelled to Berlin, Germany, for the next phase of the launch campaign. The mission: integrate their satellites with the CubeSat deployer in preparation for launch this summer.
The student teams, with support from ESA experts, have had a long journey to reach this point. Most recently, they enjoyed great success with their Flight Acceptance Reviews. This was a major hurdle to overcome, but the students and their satellites met all required criteria and received their “ticket to orbit”, propelling them to this next stage of integration.
The students visited Exolaunch’s Berlin headquarters to perform the integration of their satellites, where they installed ISTSat-1 and ³Cat-4 into their deployer. For this mission, Exolaunch’s 16U EXOpod Nova deployer is used, which is a reliable, flight-proven satellite separation system engineered to deploy CubeSats into orbit. Once a CubeSat is integrated, the deployer will be attached to the rocket, where it is then ready to be launched into space. Upon lift-off, the deployer acts as a high-tech shipping container, protecting its small and precious cargo amid intense conditions experienced during launch and the subsequent journey into orbit.
Prior to integration day, the teams, aided by ESA experts, completed several precise measurements, as well as a virtual fit-check using their Computer Aided Design (CAD) models to ensure compatibility with the deployer. Each team diligently conducted individual check-outs and tests on their satellites, knowing that the next time these CubeSats would power on would be in space! These meticulous tests were crucial to ensure everything was primed and ready for the last steps. While at Exolaunch, the satellites’ batteries were given a final charge, followed by another “fit check,” or controlled deployment test, to verify mechanical compatibility with the deployer. Thanks to careful preparations, both the fit check and final integration of ISTSat-1 and 3Cat-4 went very smoothly.
For the next leg of the journey, the loaded CubeSat deployer will be shipped to Arianespace facilities in Evry, France, before joining the other Ariane 6 payloads on their final Earth-bound trip to the Centre Spatial Guyanais/Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana. There they will be integrated onto the ballast to be launched on the Ariane 6 maiden flight.
"After enduring several test campaigns under the FYS programme, the ISTSat-1 is no stranger to international travel.” said João Paulo, ISTSat-1 System Engineer. “This was, however, the first time we came back to Lisbon empty handed...weird! All tests performed at the integration facility went well and we are confident in a successful deployment from Ariane 6. Congrats to all teams involved - ISTSat-1, ³Cat-4 and FYS!"
Reflecting on the achievement, the team leader of ³Cat-4, Luis Juan Contreras Benito, also noted, "It is incredibly fulfilling, after the journey that has been the development of ³Cat-4, seeing it already inside the deployer. With the last checks before integration being flawless, it really transmits the feeling that all the hard work has been totally worth it. We cannot remark it enough how much excitement we have to be onboard the first flight of Ariane 6 "
More information about the Fly Your Satellite! programme can be found here.
ISTSat-1, the first Portuguese student CubeSat
The ISTSat-1 is the first nanosatellite project developed by students at the Instituto Superior Técnico / University of Lisbon in Portugal. The primary goal of the ISTSat-1 mission is to provide students with a challenging hands-on project, to advance their skill development, foster their enthusiasm for space, science, and technology, and expose them to the full project life cycle of a space mission. The secondary objective of the mission aims to demonstrate an Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) system to track aircraft from orbit. The ADS-B system will collect and analyse tracking data and correlate it with ground-based tracking datasets to assess whether low-cost CubeSats can act as suitable ADS-B support satellites.
³Cat-4, a small satellite for big observations
³Cat-4 is a 1U CubeSat for Earth Observation developed by students from Technical University of Catalonia (UPC), Spain. As a part of the FYS! Programme, this CubeSat’s primary objective is also to provide students with practical experience in a real satellite project, engaging and preparing them for a successful career in the European workforce. In addition, the satellite has an important scientific mission. 3Cat-4 will explore a CubeSat’s capacity to provide Earth Observation service, and thereby motivate future projects with the same purpose. In particular, the mission combines a GNSS-Reflectometer, an L-band radiometer, and an Automatic Identification System (AIS) receiver in a single platform.
