A new UPC nanosatellite ready to launch into space on Ariane 6
The student Luis Contreras during one of the tests conducted with 3Cat-4 at ESA facilities. Source: ESA
2. From left to right: NanoSat Lab students Adrián Pérez-Portero (third from the right), Amadeu Gonga and Guillem Gràcia i Solà participated in the final integration with Ariane 6. Source: ESA
The 3Cat-4 nanosatellite, developed by the UPC’s NanoSat Lab, will be one of seven payloads on the Ariane 6 maiden flight scheduled for 9 July. 3Cat-4 is the only Catalan instrument and one of two from Spain on board this ESA mission. Developed by students, the nanosatellite focuses on observing the Earth, studying weather and climatic phenomena from space, and locating and tracking vessels to prevent accidents. Some students from the team will be present at the launch site.
Jul 05, 2024
The European Space Agency's (ESA) Ariane 6 will be launched from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on 9 July, between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. CEST (6 p.m. - 9 p.m. UTC).
Ariane 6’s first launch. 09/07/2024-19:30 h. Live ESA WEB TV
3Cat-4 (read “cube-cat-four”) is the fifth nanosatellite created by the NanoSat Lab of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC), a laboratory within the Department of Signal Theory and Communications, linked to the Barcelona School of Telecommunications Engineering (ETSETB), where an Advanced Engineering Project course is taught.
It is a 1-unit CubeSat-type nanosatellite and It was selected to be launched aboard the rocket along with a satellite from Galicia and other payloads from Germany, Slovakia, France and Portugal. This selection followed ESA’s announcement of opportunity, which offered a launch to low Earth orbit for experiments up to a total mass of 80 kg and release of payloads with a combined mass of up to 800 kg.
3Cat-4 aims to measure weather and climatic phenomena from space using a GPS and Galileo navigation signal reflectometer (GNSS-R) and a microwave radiometer developed by students, and to observe the Earth to monitor ice and soil moisture. Also, to locate and track vessels to prevent accidents and to study interferences in the frequency range to be used.
All this with experimental technology entirely designed at the UPC and a new deployable antenna. Once in orbit, the antenna will perform some of the measurements required: radiometric data and data aimed at mitigating radio frequency interferences using a GPS and the GNSS-R instrument.
Seven years of work by ninety undergraduate, master's and doctoral students
The nanosatellite is part of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Fly Your Satellite! programme, which gives university students the opportunity to design, build and launch their own satellites into orbit.
Designing, building and testing 3Cat-4 has involved 90 bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and doctoral degree students from several disciplines over seven years.Three of these students recently visited the Kourou spaceport to perform the final checks: the definitive integration of the EXOpod Nova module (within which 3Cat-4 is ready for launch) with Ariane 6.
Back in March, a part of the team travelled to Berlin, Germany, to complete the previous integration of 3Cat-4 with the EXOpod Nova module.
Two members of the team will be present at the launch site of Ariane 6 in French Guiana: Luis Contreras—a systems engineer, a student on the UPC’s doctoral degree in Aerospace Science and Technology, and team leader—and Júlia Alós—a student on the master's degree in Telecommunications Engineering at the ETSETB.
3Cat-4 is part of the 3Cat series of small satellites and payloads that have flown or will fly into space with missions developed entirely by students and faculty at the NanoSat Lab.
NanoSat Lab
Directed by professor Adriano Camps and located on the UPC’s North Diagonal Campus in Barcelona, the NanoSat Lab is dedicated to the design and manufacture of payloads and small satellites. It is also linked to the ETSETB and the Department of Signal Theory and Communications, and the CommSensLab-UPC specific research centre. Additionally, it is supported by the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC) and has been a key player in the NewSpace Strategy promoted by the Government of Catalonia.
Releated news and link to the Ariane 6's first launch lIve
- Two UPC NanoSat Lab missions,ready to be launched into spacees (02/05/2024)
- Web ESA: Introducing Ariane 6, ESA’s powerful new rocket (28/05/2024)
- Web ESA: Ariane 6 launches 3Cat-4: reflecting on Earth (8/05/2024)
- Web ESA: Ready, set, integrate: 3Cat4 and ISTSat-1 CubeSats prepare to fly on Ariane 6 (09/04/2024)
- Ariane 6’s first launch. 09/07/2024-19:30. Live ESA WEB TV