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