Launched on 9 July 2024, aboard the European Space Agency’s (ESA) inaugural Ariane 6 flight, ISTSat-1 became a milestone for the Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, and for the national space sector—it is the first Portuguese university nanosatellite, entirely built by researchers and students from Técnico.
Two years later, the satellite remains fully operational and still in orbit with an estimated remaining lifespan of about ten years, during which its operations will be monitored from the ground station at Técnico – Oeiras campus.
This was just the first step in IST NanoSatLab’s space journey. The laboratory and consortium bring together four research units affiliated with Técnico (the Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores – Investigação e Desenvolvimento (INESC-ID), the Instituto de Telecomunicações (IT), the Mechanical Engineering Institute (idMEC), and the Institute for Systems and Robotics (ISR-Lisboa)) and already have their sights set on the future, with two missions being prepared: Argus and 5G Nanosatellite.
The first, Argus, is already scheduled for launch in October of this year aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-18. Consisting of two CubeSats, the mission aims to demonstrate new ways to autonomously determine the position and orientation of satellites in orbit, using artificial intelligence algorithms run directly on board. Equipped with four cameras and one processor, these satellites will analyse images of the Earth’s surface to support autonomous navigation in orbit. This is a joint mission between IST NanoSatLab and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), and, as with ISTSat-1, mission command and control will be handled from the ground station located at Técnico – Oeiras campus.
5G Nanosatellite, another mission being developed by IST NanoSatLab, is a partnership between this consortium at Técnico, Altice Labs, and the University of Luxembourg, with completion expected in 2029. The project aims to establish a direct communication link between a low-Earth orbit satellite and the terrestrial 5G network. This will be achieved by integrating a 5G terminal with a compact antenna developed by NanoSatLab, with the goal of increasing the number of data transfer windows from satellites, which are currently limited to four ten-minute periods each day.
“ISTSat-1 demonstrated that Técnico has the capacity to develop space technology in an integrated manner, involving students, researchers, and national and international partners; today we have a more experienced team, a consolidated infrastructure, and the knowledge that allows us to participate in more ambitious missions”, summarises João Paulo Monteiro, a researcher at IST NanoSatLab and ISR-Lisboa.
The impact of ISTSat-1 is also felt in the training of new generations of engineers. The project helped strengthen the student community dedicated to satellite development, particularly the LISAT—Lisbon Student Satellite Team, which is developing its own satellite under the guidance of the lab’s researchers, directly benefiting from the experience gained throughout the pioneering mission.
