We are proud to announce the delivery of the first completely open source software and hardware satellite!
A major step towards UPSat’s launch has being completed. Its successful delivery to Innovative Solutions In Space (ISISpace) took place on August 18th in Delft, Netherlands. UPSat is the first complete delivery to ISISpace as part of the QB50 project.
Engineers from the University of Patras and Libre Space Foundation, the makers of UPSat, in cooperation with Von Karman Institute and ISISpace engineers have successfully concluded all needed tests and checkout procedures, to enable UPSat’s integration to the NanoRacks launch system. Subsequently, UPSat will be delivered to Orbital ATK, and then launched to the International Space Station via a Cygnus automated cargo spacecraft. After successful docking to ISS, UPSat will be launch by the NanoRacks deployment pod aboard ISS.
This delivery marks a major milestone towards the realization of Libre Space Foundation vision for an open source technologies ecosystem in space, while also being the first satellite built in Greece.
Keep an eye for more technical posts about the delivery itself and calls to action about next steps in the mission (tracking, analyzing data etc). Onward we go!
First Greek built CubeSat was LambdaSat in 2014 https://amsat-uk.org/2014/08/23/lambdasat-cubesat-iss-deployment/
Hey M5AKA! LambdaSat was not built in Greece, and as a matter of fact it was made from COTS components, so not really built but rather assembled.
UPSat was designed, constructed, assembled and tested in Greece from scratch.
That’s not to say that LambdaSat did not pave the way for more Greeks to be involved in the space industry
Congratulation, this is a good news
Congratulations! I look forward to hearing UPSat on the air.
Wes
AE6ZM & VE7ELE
AMSAT #39587