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

Stimulating vocations and innovation

CubeSat Observation2Professors Gaëtan Kerschen and Jacques Verly, upon whom the future of nanosatellites at Liège ans its ULg depends, enjoy both the intellectual challenges of this initial 'Cubesat' project as well as the enthusiastic dimension of innovation. But, they stress that 'the ultimate stage of the finalisation of the nanosatellite would not have been achieved without getting help from a small team of research engineers who are capable of quickly finding solution to the many problems that crop up at the last minute. Within the Faculty of Applied Sciences, the idea of having a satellite made in ULg - OUFTI-1 - in orbit by early 2015 now appears quite realistic. Currently, there is information from ESA regarding the means by which OUFTI-1 will reach orbit and what this orbit will be.

Already, and before it is in orbit, the Liège 'Cubesat' has kept all its promises, by succeeding on two front. First, it has inspired the careers of several students who are now actively working in the space sector. Three examples of graduate engineers should be mentioned, who owe their professional careers to the OUFTI-1 odyssey. Philippe Ledent, who was the first to work on the electrical power supply aboard OUFTI-1, now works for the leading Belgian company in the satellite industry, specialising in electrical power supplies. Vincent Beukelaers was involved in the OUFTI-1 mission analysis, and now works in California: he was involved in the NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Phonesat mission, and he is now with the new Planet Labs company, which will launch a range of observational nanosatellites. Julian Tallineau, who studied the payload of the successor of OUFTI-1 - which was intially called OUFTI-2, but is now called SIMBA - is a satellite systems engineer for QinetiQ Space and is preparing the Proba-3 mission, which involves the flight in formation two satellites.

The development of OUFTI-1 also gave a major boost to the 'Cubesat' phenomenon in Belgium. Other projects have taken shape. In Belgium, OUFTI-1 has given a real impetus to research and technological innovation.

The ULg's expertise is now solicited for new scientific and technological missions funded by Belspo: 
- PICASSO (Pathfinder Instruments for Cloux & Aerosol Spaceborne Observations), from the Institut d’Aéronomie Spatiale de Belgique, has a spectro-imager that analyses, from space, the chemical components in the atmosphere;
- Qarman, for the VKI (Von Karman Institute), as a demonstration of the study of atmospheric re-entry; 
- SIMBA (Sun-Earth Imbalance), from the Institut Royal Météorologique, has a high technology radiometer to measure the impact of solar rays on the Earth.

A thriving industry and pollution in orbit

In terms of 'Cubesat' missions, there's no shortage of ideas! A breath of fresh air is blowing through the space industry.

Nanosatellites weighing between 1 and 10 kg are more and more sophisticated and they take shape with the support of space agencies, research bodies, universities, and polytechnic institutes. Germany, Italy, and Denmark are leading the way in Europe. first cubeSat1The group of countries involved in nanosatellite developments keeps expanding throughout, the world. At the end of this year, around 50 nanosatellites will be placed into orbit during two launches in Virginia (USA) and in the south of Russia. Without a doubt, the most ambitious project is the QB50 project, with the deployment into orbit of an international constellation including up to 50 double CubeSats (i.e. two one-unit CubeSat attached at one face), designed and constructed by groups of professors and students from the five continents. Each nanosatellite, combines instruments for in situ measurements of the thermosphere, i.e. the region above our heads between 90 and 300km.

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