The anticipation is palpable – and it’s no wonder. Many people stare intently at the large screen set up in the atrium of the Oeiras campus, at 7.59 p.m., on 9 July, waiting for Ariane 6 Liftoff from Kourou in French Guiana. For many of these people, this is an even more special moment – ISTSat-1, the first Portuguese university nanosatellite entirely built at Técnico, by Técnico researchers and students from the IST NanoSat Lab, is aboard Ariane 6 – and they are now holding their breath until the clock strikes 00:00:00.
And the moment has finally arrived. After igniting the engines and climbing through the atmosphere, the tension was managed in stages as the flight director’s voice announced “trajectoire nominale!” every 20 seconds. – the confirmation that everything was going according to plan. At the Oeiras campus, there were several waves of applause as the vehicle approached the 580-kilometre mark, the altitude at which ISTSat-1 will orbit the planet. Once the orbit has been established, the activity and data collected by the satellite will be monitored by the Técnico team at the ground station in Oeiras. The main purpose of this equipment is to monitor the presence of aircraft in remote areas of the planet that are difficult to detect from the surface.
An event in anticipation of the Ariane 6 first liftoff took place in the afternoon, attended by Fernando Alexandre, Portuguese Minister of Education, Science and Innovation, Luís Ferreira, Rector of Universidade de Lisboa, Isaltino Morais, mayor of Oeiras, members of the teams involved in building the nanosatellite and other curious participants.
Rogério Colaço, the president of Técnico, opened the ceremony confessing “some nervousness after years of work and effort to create a satellite capable of passing the European Space Agency’s (ESA) tests.” “If there’s one thing that Técnico can do,” he said, “it’s to make dreams come true, whether that’s building a satellite or inaugurating a spin-off, a unicorn”. According to professor Rogério Colaço, this was an important step in the country’s entry into the space race, which he considers “absolutely crucial for Portugal, whether it’s to monitor air, sea or land space”. In his opinion, the launch of this satellite represented the “passing of the Cape of Storms” in this field, a “point of no return” in the country’s aerospace development, comparable to the first steps taken hundreds of years ago by the navigators who then began to explore the oceans.
“Congratulations, Técnico! Thank you, Técnico!”, said the Rector of Universidade de Lisboa, Luís Ferreira, praising the role of the School and more than 50 professors, researchers and students involved in the ISTSat-1 project. “Going further, changing people’s lives, solving the country’s and the world’s problems – that’s what Técnico does and it’s, therefore, a great source of pride that it’s part of Universidade de Lisboa”, the rector stressed.
Choosing from 13 competing universities that presented their prototypes to travel aboard Ariane 6, the ESA’s education department selected Técnico and five other higher education institutions to join the ‘Fly Your Sattelite!’ programme (at the final launch, along with Técnico, only the Polytechnic University of Catalonia put a satellite aboard). The initiative aimed to support students in building, testing and launching their satellites, providing technical support, test infrastructures and funding for the launch in French Guiana. With this incentive, the ISTSat-1 (which had been underway since 2008) was given a new lease of life, culminating in this launch, led by the Técnico professors and researchers Moisés Piedade (Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores – Investigação e Desenvolvimento) and Rui Rocha (Instituto de Telecomunicações), the latter accompanying the process on site.
The event’s programme included a debate on Baltasar, the first Portuguese rocket to be successfully launched and recovered, on display next to the stage. Moisés Piedade, one of the mentors of the project that led to ISTSat-1, recalled that in building this satellite, researchers and students created the components from scratch, “showing that Portugal can do it”. Zita Martins, the vice-president of Técnico for International Affairs and chair of ESA’s Solar System Exploration Working Group, emphasised the school’s role in the area of space sciences, recalling that “Técnico had the first Astrobiology laboratory in the country and was the first institution to teach in this area”. “We have leading scientific laboratories with links to the ESA and the Japanese Space Agency”, she said.
Fernando Lau, coordinator of the Undergraduate Programme and Master’s Programme in Aerospace Engineering, expressed his desire to see this engineering field playing a role in civil transport and supply chain so that Portugal can benefit from entering this industry early. Júlia Martinho, a member of the Aerospace Students’ Organisation at Técnico (AeroTéc) representing the Rocket Experiment Division (RED), shared “these projects are crucial for students; they help us make our career choices”. “I feel that RED was very important for me, as I had contact with many areas early on in my degree”, she added.
The event also marked the creation of the Oeiras Valley Space Hub, a partnership between Técnico, Oeiras City Council and the Centre of Engineering and Product Development (CEiiA) aiming to boost a technological hub in the area of space sciences in the Oeiras municipality.
The IST NanoSat Lab project had the financial support of Técnico, Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores, Investigação e Desenvolvimento (INESC-ID), Instituto de Telecomunicações (IT) and the Mechanical Engineering Institute (IDMEC). A team of researchers at the Institute for Systems and Robotics (ISR-Lisboa) and several companies linked to the sector also participated in the project.
