Aalto University has signed a contract for the launch of the Aalto-1 satellite. The historic contract for sending the first Finnish satellite into space was signed by Keijo Nikoskinen, Dean of the School of Electrical Engineering.
'We are very proud of this project. Completion of the satellite demonstrates a high level of education, as the quality requirements for space electronics are very strict. After working on this masterpiece, the future experts who were and continue to be involved in the project have an extensive knowledge of the entire range of electrical engineering,' states Dean Keijo Nikoskinen.
The Aalto-1 nanosatellite was built in a student project in broad cooperation with other Finnish universities and institutes. Since its start in 2010, more than 80 students have worked on the project, and dozens of theses have already been written about topics related to the satellite.
The contract was signed in March with a Dutch company called Innovative Solutions in Space, which brokers launch opportunities for the American company SpaceX.
'In addition to Aalto-1, the Falcon 9 rocket will carry several other small nanosatellites. The rocket will be launched to an orbit of approximately 600 kilometres at the end of the year. More detailed information about the launch date will be available by the summer. At this time, the Aalto-1 team is concentrating on preparing the satellite for tests in May,' says Professor Jaan Praks, who is the responsible leader of the project.
Project produces top experts
Aalto-1 will take important Finnish space expertise into space for testing. A new type of spectrometer device developed by VTT will be used for remote environmental sensing, while a radiation meter built by students from the University of Helsinki and University of Turku will take radiation measurements. Aalto-1 will also test an electrostatic plasma brake for deorbiting satellites that was designed by the Finnish Meteorological Institute.The School of Electrical Engineering Department of Radio Science and Engineering is spearheading the Aalto 1 student satellite project.
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