UM student nanosatellite in orbit
ROBUSTA 1B, the University of Montpellier's second nanosatellite, which lifted off from the Shriharikota base in India at 5:69 am (Paris time) on Friday June 23, aboard a PSLV launcher, gave all the right signals during tests completed yesterday.
Developed by the Centre Spatial Universitaire Montpellier-Nîmes with support from CNES and the Van Allen Foundation of the University of Montpellier, it has successfully transmitted and received data, recharged its batteries... After several passes over Montpellier, the nanosatellite is 100% operational and can now continue its mission. This moment was eagerly awaited by the fifty or so students from Montpellier and Nîmes who contributed to the development of this 10 cm CubeSat during their internships and theses.
The first signals were picked up by colleagues in Russia, South Africa and Germany, before the nanosatellite passed over Montpellier at 12 noon on Friday. Since then, the ground station at the University of Montpellier has received over 50 sets of data, and radio amateurs around the world are also sending the data collected to the space center. The data received relates to the health of the nanosatellite and the on-board experiment. ROBUSTA 1B's scientific mission data will continue to be processed over the coming months. ROBUSTA 1B's mission is to validate a radiation test standard and a new communications bus.
Accompanied by CNES, as part of its support scheme for student projects JANUS (Jeunes en Apprentissage pour la réalisation de Nanosatellites au sein des Universités et des écoles de l'Enseignement Supérieur), students from theIUT de Nîmes, theIUT de Montpellier-Sète, the Faculté des Sciences and the Polytech engineering school are developing nanosatellites from start to finish. They are put through their paces in the new, state-of-the-art Centre Spatial building at the University of Montpellier, built with strong support from the Occitanie Region.
The building brings together students, researchers and industrialists, as well as AxlR (a technology transfer acceleration company) and the LRI regional incubator. It features mechanical and electronics workshops, a concurrent engineering room for system design, a clean room for assembly, and a control room for communicating with the nanosatellite in space.
" Thanks to the support of the Van Allen Foundation, which funds many student internships, around 50 students worked on this nanosatellite for 4 years, from 2012 to 2015, supervised by academics and interacting with industrialists and CNES engineers" explains Laurent Dusseau, Director of the Centre Spatial Universitaire. "The special feature of the project is that they developed everything from A to Z, mastering the entire technology. From design to environmental testing, they have acquired skills that are sought after by the industry, and are now ready for employment. This success confirms the University of Montpellier's commitment to this new type of project-based training, as part of a long-term partnership with players in the socio-economic world, supported by its Van Allen Foundation.