Le site de vulgarisation scientifique de l’Université de Liège. ULg, Université de Liège

OUFTI-1: nearly ready for space!
11/25/13

The QB50 initiative and its development at VKI is due to Jean Muylaert, its director. This QB50 constellation is the first joint use, on the global scale, of 'low cost' ‘CubeSat’ missions combining the educational context and scientific purposes. It will enable science to be conducted in a network, and to validate experimental concepts. It faces the difficulty of finding an inexpensive launch mechanism, which would normally be financed by the European Commission. At his point, it seems that a launch will not happen before 2016. Given its low cost and certain amount of flexibility, 'CubeSat' technology lends itself well to the multiplication of specialised nanosatellites to successfully collect data and conduct regular observations.

In the United States, NASA and DOD (Department of Defense), and, in Japan, MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology), encourage universities, academies, and higher-learning institutions to experiment with 'CubeSats' in orbit. Astronauts even launch them from the ISS (International Space Station) for space activities with an educational flavor. Companies have been developed to commercialise 'turnkey' solutions and 'tailor-made' applications. In The Netherlands, this is the case of ISI (Innovation Solutions in Space), which provides equipment, launches, complete systems ... In Silicon Valley, Planet Labs is getting ready to launch in the near future, in a single launch, its Flock-1 constellation of 28 agile 'CubeSats' to take images of the Earth surface, almost continuously, and with a resolution of between 3 to 5m.

The 'CubeSat' world is therefore in a state of considerable excitment (CubeSats : for or against?). This can be seen in the multiplication and disturbing proliferation of nanosatellites ... at an altitude of between 200 and 400m. Their spread raises two questions about the future of space activities: interference with the use of increasingly overloaded radiocommunications systems and the risks posed by the presence of nanosatellite junk in space. Team OUFTIOn should ensure that these minuscule objects, which become space debris, do not create problems (collisions...) with other spacecraft, particularly those with people on board. A modus vivendi has been adopted on the international level to ensure that all 'CubeSats' are launched in such a way that their orbital life does not exceed 20 years! Bold and ambitious, the 'CubeSat' approach is therefore not free of risk. Given its multidisciplinary nature on the global scale, the approcah presents real advantages which can meet the challenges of exploring and exploiting space.

Read also : We have a lift-off "Oufti"!

Illus construction satellite

How to built satellite

OUFTI-1, first Belgian nano-satellite conceived by Université de Liège students, just finished its integration phase. The occasion to explain how to built a satellite.

Illu OUFTI pas de tir

OUFTI, on the launchpad

The idea of OUFTI-1, first Belgian nano-satellite developped by students from Liège, gets back to 2007. It took six years to get from the idea to the assembling of the satellite. He is today ready for space!

The 6th European Cubesat Symposium by the VKI will take place from 10 to 12 June 2014 at the Royal Military Academy in Brussels. The event will take stock of the development of CubeSats in Europe.

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