Vega Maiden Flight CubeSat Workshop

 

22 - 24 January 2008

ESA/ESTEC
Noordwijk, The Netherlands

 

BACKGROUND

 

On 28 May 2007, Antonio Fabrizi, ESA’s Director of Launchers, and René Oosterlinck, the Agency’s Director of Legal Affairs and External Relations, signed an Agreement to include an educational payload on the Maiden Flight of the Vega launch vehicle from Kourou, French Guiana, currently planned for December 2008.

 

The educational payload will be entirely developed by educational institutions. It will comprise six CubeSats that will be released in orbit from the main Vega launch vehicle qualification payload, known as the ‘Flight Spacecraft’ (which may or may not be released from the Vega 4th stage), and experiments that will remain attached to the Flight Spacecraft known as the ‘fixed payload elements’. The CubeSats will be released by off-the-shelf CubeSat deployment systems into an elliptical orbit with an initial apogee of 1200 km and a perigee of 350 km (inclination 71º). Only standard size CubeSats (10 x 10 x 10 cm) are acceptable on the Vega Maiden Flight. The launch of the CubeSats and the fixed payload elements is offered free of charge to the universities.

 

The Workshop will be the first dedicated CubeSat Workshop at European level. Participation is by invitation only. Invitations have been sent by the Workshop Organiser Ruedeger Reinhard (Ruedeger.Reinhard @ esa.int) to selected European CubeSat teams which are considered candidates for the Vega Maiden Flight, bearing in mind technical maturity and compliance with the Vega schedule. He is also responsible for establishing the Workshop programme. All budgetary matters, in particular reimbursement of student travel, are handled by Helen Page (Helen.Page @ esa.int). The conference logistics, including this website, online registration, hotel reservations, local transport, reception desk during the Workshop, etc. are managed by CONGREX, ESA’s official conference organiser at ESTEC.