In the last hours it became known that the US Department of Science, Technology and Innovation will provide an extraordinary grant of 80 thousand dollars to cover the cost of launching the small satellite USAD I into orbit. © Light Developed by UNLP’s Faculty of Engineering Space Technology Center.
In this framework, the project coordinator, Sonia BottaIn conversation with From rootBy Radio La Plata (FM 90.9)He explained what the plan was and what the objectives were.
“This project has been going on for about two years and this is the first project we have done. We are very happy with the progress we have made and are in the final stages, already done with production and last details. Integration and hope that the satellite will soon be armed,” began Botta.
Similarly, he pointed out that there are already other institutions that have developed these types of projects, “actually this is not the first in Argentina, nor is it a university. There were two before in Argentina, one from the National University of Comahu and the other from the Instituto Universitario Aeronautico, but this is the first university CubeSat-type satellite in Argentina. .
“This type of satellite is small, modular, which means it can be scaled down or expanded as one wishes, and it is more suitable for everything as a technology demonstration,” commented the coordinator.
At the same time, he continued: “It is a very economical satellite, very easy to integrate, easy to adapt to other missions. So all the improvements we make now can be reused for other tasks that are of interest to other technology development companies, and then we can be more certain that it will work on satellites.
On the other hand, Bhota commented on the functioning of the Aerospace Technology Center which was created in 2014. “As the name suggests, we are specialists in the space industry, i.e. rocketry, development and everything from development. As for machines, we are involved with Tronador and we have our own developments.â€
“We are in the satellite industry, not only with the university satellite, but we are currently involved in Sabiamar. In addition to all this, we are involved in other industries, for example, we have a test site in Argentina that is not found anywhere else, and I would dare to say that it is internationally competitive. Said. “They work on everything from testing airbags, testing child seats, crash impact, and we’re in other industries as well,” he said.
What USAT is used for:
Talking about this developmental benefit of satellite technology, Botta pointed out many objectives that can be achieved only by launching it, “If one does not launch it, one learns a lot, it grows a lot but we do. Everything we’ve done is not knowing if it’s working, so it’s all about making it fly to know that it really works and really take it from this mission to others.
“Scientifically speaking, our aim is to test scientific techniques with GPS, like in your cell phone or in your car, what changes in the receiver, which means the type of equipment you have to get,” he added. .
“This receiver was developed in a faculty at the university, we are one of the few companies that can develop its own GPS receivers for space applications, and what we want to do is provide flight times so that it can be used in other missions. And test it in navigation and test it in two scientific techniques called radio cloaking and reflection,” the project coordinator concluded.
