By Théo Pirard

OUFTI has been launched! Students at the Faculty of Applied Sciences, supported by professors at the LTAS department (Dept. of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering) and the Montefiore Institute Dpt. of Electrical Engeneering and Computer Science), have won a place aboard the European Space Agency’s small Vega rocket launcher. The objective: to launch their educational 1kg nano-satellite during the second half of 2009.

‘Oufti’, a popular expression in Liège (almost untranslatable but meaning something like ‘Wow’!), could soon pass into space technology vocabulary as an acronym for Orbital Utility for Telecommunications/Technology Innovations. It names a nano-satellite project - of the 'Cubesat type’ – which is being carried out by students taking a Masters in the University of Liège’s Faculty of Applied Sciences, based on an idea suggested by Luc Halbach, an amateur radio operator and engineer at Spacebel in the Liege Science Park. OUFTI-1 should be the first fully Belgian satellite, even if of a modest size, as the 94kg PROBA-1 satellite, in orbit at 500km since October 2001, is a satellite which was 'made in Belgium' within the framework of ESA's technological programme.

Boosted by professors Gaetan Kerschen at the LTAS/3SL (Space Structures and Systems Laboratory) and Jacques Verly at the Montefiore Institute/EECS (INTELSIG Laboratory), the University of Liège has propelled itself into the project of building a 1kg ‘Cubesat’ with a standardized shape and size that can be held by one hand. In space, between altitudes of 350 and 1200km, this cube of around 10cm, packed with micro-electronics – it is there that the technological challenge lies - will test a world 'first' in orbit. OUFTI-1, once placed in orbit around the Earth, will become the first relay station in space for the new digital telecommunications D-STAR protocol for amateur radio operators across the planet (Digital Smart Technologies for Amateur Radio).

What a story in Liège!

At the beginning of 2008, in order to become familiar with using this protocol, the Montefiore Institute equipped itself with the first Belgian terrestrial relay station for the D-STAR telecommunication system. This equipment worked perfectly on its first radio link ('contact' in amateur radio jargon), which took place on the 3^rd of January 2008. Working with the call-sign ON0ULG, it sparked lots of interest amongst students and gave birth to amateur radio vocations. To obtain the licence, courses must be taken, as well as an exam. This is the price that a number of people are willing to pay as they want to be ready to participate in the OUFTI-1 odyssey.

A first trio of students, two from the Montefiore Institute and one from the LTAS department worked on the idea – the OUFTI-1 concept of D-STAR contacts through miniaturised relay stations – for their Master's theses project. They presented their nano-satellite project to the European Space Research and Technology Centre at Noordwijck (Holland). The objective was to pick up a place for free on the maiden ESA Vega rocket launch. Stefania Galli (from Milan, in the 5^th year as a student in aerospace engineering), Philippe Ledent and Jonathan Pisane (in their 4^th and 5^th year as student in electrical engineering, respectively) formed the first pioneering ‘Cubesat’ team in Belgium. They were helped by two doctoral students, Amadine Denis (LTAS) and Jean-François Vandenrijt (CSL/Liège Space Centre).

This project, with an estimated cost of between 80,000 and 100,000 euros (not including launch costs), took shape within the framework of LEODIUM (Lancement En Orbite de Démonstrations Innovantes d'une Université Multidisciplinaire/Low Earth Orbit Demonstration of Innovation in University Mode). This programme was initiated by the Liège Espace group, which acts as an umbrella for university laboratories and commercial companies in the Liège area, who are all players in the field of space systems technology. It is presided by Pierre Rochus, Head of Space Instrumentation Department (CSL). On the 6^th of June 2008, the whole team was informed that their project had been selected by ESA.

On route towards a world's first !

This project really took form on the 18^th of September during a telephone conversation, Luc Halbach suggested to professor Jacques Verly the idea of designing and constructing, at the University, an educational Cubesat equipped with the new D-STAR technology. The D-STAR amateur radio digital communication protocol allows simultaneous transmission of voice and digital information (GPS, files, etc.), routing and roaming on a global scale, including the internet. Now installed at the University of Liège, it allows you to contact from your own car an amateur radio operator driving in New York! This high quality transmission is only possible if the amateur radio user is within range of a D-STAR relay station or is connected to the web. But in isolated areas or areas that are difficult to reach following a disaster, an inexpensive satellite whith digital communication capabilities will prove crucially useful. This is what the University of Liège's nano-satellite intends to demonstrate, on a global scale.

OUFTI-1’s payload consists of a micro-miniaturised D-STAR telecommunications relay station (repeater), adapted for space and designed to be tested in orbit by the amateur radio community. Its ULg control station, to be installed on the Sart Tilman campus, will establish a vital link between the satellite and its users. Amateur radio operators the world over, thanks to specific frequency bands reserved for their use, will be able to help the Liège students to keep track of how OUFTI-1 is operating. In exchange they will have access to the Liège nano-satellite.

In a few months this OUFTI-1 project has already succeeded in stirring up really keen. A team of Liège students is on the way to being established around the initial core group. As a result of winning a spot o, VEGA, the OUFTI-1 hasbeen reinforced in preparation for the next academic year. Not only university students, but also students from the Haute Ecole HEMES-Gramme (multi-skilled industrial engineers) and the Haute Ecole Rennequin Sualem/ISIL (Liège industrial engineers). The latter has already distinguished itself in the field of space technology, as it has taught and trained an industrial engineer who was Director of Operations for the Ariane 5 launches at the Guyana Space Centre.

It is moreover from this Centre that the first Vega rocket launcher should take flight during the year 2009: under its shroud, beyond a small Italian geodesy satellite, there will be an international armada of educational nano-satellites. Nine have just been selected by ESA’s Education Department: they will be developed by teaching institutions in Belgium (Liège), Spain (Vigo), France (Montpellier), Italy (Rome, Trieste, Turin), Poland (Warsaw), Romania (Bucharest) and Switzerland (Lausanne). Priority has been given to students who are taking their firsts steps in developing original systems for space.

A delicate rendez-vous with Vega

OUFT1-1 having been chosen to depart on the first (qualification testing) Vega rocket flight has encouraged the Liège team to keep pressing on, without delay, as the planning for its first Cubesat is very tight. Three months before the launch, that is to say in May / June 2009 in terms of the current Vega programme calendar, the flight model has to be sent to ESTEC for tests of its compatibility with the mechanism that will expel it from the rocket bus. The nine nano-satellites have to be sent to Guyana ten weeks before the planned Vega launch.

Professors Kerschen and Verly are aware of the challenges awaiting the students, who are faced with very tight planning schedules. After having defined in a detailed way the Cubesat’s specifications, they must now proceed with the construction of a prototype, test the onboard micro-systems and set up a ground based control station. They will have to confront problems concerning vibrations during lift-off, the nano-satellite's electrical power supply, stabilising the satellite in a passive orbit and deploying its antennae. They will have a great need of the skills developed by the Liège Space Centre and Walloon space systems industries. The University of Liège has already granted 50,000 euros worth of financing for constructing OUFTI-1, a real tool for active teaching which brings into play the technologies of tomorrow.

In order to gain time, the Faculty of Applied Sciences has ordered the OUFTI-1 Cubesat chassis from California Polytechnic University (San Luis Obispo), where the concept of a student nano-satellite took form. The ultra-light structure has been at the Faculty of Applied Sciences’ S3L (Space Structures & Systems Laboratory) for a few weeks already. The group of current and new students have to design and build its internal fittings, with all the necessary electronics, in order to turn it into a miniaturised D-STAR communications relay station. But enthusiasm for the project is firmly in place. OUFTI-1 has really got the wind in its sails! Its team must now manoeuvre carefully to stay on course. Get set for orbit !

OUFTI : Further reading