The first CubeSat satellite student project called “LuxCube” was officially launched on 20 September 2018 at the University of Luxembourg. More than 40 participants from academia and industry attended the event on Kirchberg campus.
Since its creation in 1999 by the California Polytechnic State University and Stanford University with the aim of developing the skills of students to design, build and test small satellites, CubeSat has been very successful with more than 875 CubeSats launched into space from 58 countries. “A CubeSat is a miniaturised satellite that is made up of multiples of 10×10×10 cm cubic units and weighs less than 1.33kg. It could be used alone or stacked to suit the needs of a specific mission. This is an incredible tool not only for high schools and universities but also for government agencies and private companies. CubeSats are less expensive and faster to produce than traditional satellites”, explains Edder Jose Rabadan Santana, Senior Researcher at the University of Luxembourg, who leads the project.
Entitled “LuxCube”, the CubeSat project made in Luxembourg, will have both educational and research objectives. On the one hand, it will provide students with hands-on satellite-build experience and on the other hand, it will enable to image the earth’s surface, particularly Luxembourg, and analyse the data collected from the subsystems for future CubeSat designs. “This project fits perfectly with the creation of a new Master in Space for September 2019 at the University of Luxembourg and with the strategic development of space activities driven by the Luxembourg government. LuxCube will definitively increase the interest, knowledge and skills in aerospace science at national level”, says Professor Stephan Leyer, Head of the Research Unit in Engineering Sciences (RUES) at the University of Luxembourg.
After the presentation of the LuxCube project, two invited speakers from industry gave their viewpoints on small satellite operations and observations. Jan Thoemel, Head of Satellite Operations at Gomspace, shared his experience as manufacturer and supplier of nanosatellite solutions while Agnieszka Lukaszczyk, Senior Director – European Affairs at Planet, explained the challenges of earth-imaging satellites.