ESA Cubesats delivered for first Vega flight

The Spanish CubeSat - Credits: ESA / A. Reyes

The first CubeSats to be sponsored by ESA’s Education Office have been delivered to the agency’s Space Technology and Research Centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands.

Integration of these 1 kilogram pico-satellites into their deployment systems, named P-PODs (Poly-Picosatellite Orbital Deployer) and the associated testing was completed by mid-November.

They will now undergo a Final Acceptance Review and, if accepted for the flight, will be sent to the European Spaceport at Kourou, French Guiana, to be prepared for launch on the Vega Qualification Flight.

The ESA CubeSat programme began on 28 May 2007, when Antonio Fabrizi, the Director of Launchers, and René Oosterlinck, the Director of Legal Affairs and External Relations, signed an agreement to include an educational payload on the maiden flight of the Vega launch vehicle.

The announcement of opportunity issued by ESA's Education Office in February 2008 offered the possibility of launching up to nine university CubeSats free-of-charge on Europe's newest launcher.