Lift-off for EIRSAT-1, Ireland's first ever satellite
Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2023 8:16 pm
Lift-off for EIRSAT-1, Ireland's first ever satellite
Read more here:
https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Lift ... e_999.html
Six years of hard work and dedication paid off in spectacular fashion today, as the Educational Irish Research Satellite, EIRSAT-1, successfully blasted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. Hitching a ride on a Space-X Falcon-9 launcher, the tiny satellite - measuring just 10.7cm x 10.7cm x 22.7cm - has now made history as Ireland's first satellite!
EIRSAT-1 was designed, built, and tested by students from University College Dublin (UCD) participating in ESA Academy's Fly Your Satellite! programme, a hands-on initiative supporting university student teams to develop their own satellites according to professional standards. The launch opportunity itself was provided by ESA.
ESA experts have been on-hand throughout the satellite's development to offer training and guidance to dozens of UCD students. Their learning journey also included test campaigns at ESA Education's CubeSat Support Facility in Belgium, and dedicated spacecraft communications sessions both at ESA Academy's Training and Learning Centre and at the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt Germany, to learn Ireland's first spacecraft operations procedures.
Read more here:
https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Lift ... e_999.html
Six years of hard work and dedication paid off in spectacular fashion today, as the Educational Irish Research Satellite, EIRSAT-1, successfully blasted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. Hitching a ride on a Space-X Falcon-9 launcher, the tiny satellite - measuring just 10.7cm x 10.7cm x 22.7cm - has now made history as Ireland's first satellite!
EIRSAT-1 was designed, built, and tested by students from University College Dublin (UCD) participating in ESA Academy's Fly Your Satellite! programme, a hands-on initiative supporting university student teams to develop their own satellites according to professional standards. The launch opportunity itself was provided by ESA.
ESA experts have been on-hand throughout the satellite's development to offer training and guidance to dozens of UCD students. Their learning journey also included test campaigns at ESA Education's CubeSat Support Facility in Belgium, and dedicated spacecraft communications sessions both at ESA Academy's Training and Learning Centre and at the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt Germany, to learn Ireland's first spacecraft operations procedures.