All Open Source UPSat CubeSat Delivered to ISISpace as Part of ESA’s QB50 Project
The UPSat team of engineers is proud to announce the delivery of the first completely open source software and hardware satellite.
A major step towards UPSat’s launch has being completed. Its successful delivery to Innovative Solutions In Space (ISISpace) took place on August 18th in Delft, Netherlands.
UPSat is the first complete delivery to ISISpace as part of the QB50 project. Engineers from the University of Patras (Department of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics & Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering) and Libre Space Foundation, the makers of UPSat, in cooperation with Von Karman Institute and ISISpace engineers have successfully concluded all checkout tests and delivery procedures, to enable UPSat’s integration to the NanoRacks launch system.
UPSat will be delivered to Orbital ATK, and then launched to the International Space Station via a Cygnus automated cargo spacecraft scheduled for 30th of December 2016. After successful docking to ISS, UPSat will be launched by the NanoRacks deployment pod aboard ISS.
This delivery marks a major milestone towards the realization of University of Patras and Libre Space Foundation vision for the first Greek designed and manufactured satellite within an open source ecosystem in space for space.
UPSat
UPSat (https://upsat.gr) is the first open source hardware and software satellite, designed and integrated by Libre Space Foundation and the University of Patras to participate in the international QB50 Research mission.
QB50 Mission
The QB50 mission (https://www.qb50.eu) is an international research mission of 50 satellites aiming to collect data on thermosphere, the highest part of Earth’s atmosphere. The project is coordinated by the Von Karman Institute of fluid dynamics.
University of Patras
University of Patras (http://www.upatras.gr) is a public university in Patras, Greece. The Department of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics together with the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering started the UPSat project since 2010.
Libre Space Foundation
Libre Space Foundation – LSF (https://librespacefoundation.org) is a non-profit organization aiming to promote, advance and develop open source technologies for space. LSF designed, manufactured and delivered UPSat subsystems (hardware and software) as open source projects.
