The 5 cm PocketQube satellite PROMETHEUS-1 is set to be launched into space, aboard a Space X rocket, in January 2025. The launch has recently gained significant media attention featuring on TV coverages by Portuguese channels RTP and SIC Notícias.
PROMETHEUS-1 was developed at Universidade do Minho in collaboration with Instituto Superior Técnico and Carnegie Mellon University, under the CMU Portugal’s Exploratory Research Project “Prometheus”. The 2021 project has the main goal of providing easy access to space for the research and education community. The project aims to test and validate the Pycubed-mini platform designed at CMU’s Rexlab by Zachary Manchester’s team at Carnegie Mellon.
Alexandre Ferreira da Silva, PI of the project, is using this platform in a classroom as an education tool for Aerospace Engineering students at Universidade do Minho, building replicas of the Prometheus-1 satellite to showcase not only its components and ecosystem, but also what is required to put a satellite into orbit (licensing, certification, and more).
“We plan to build a constellation of satellites to monitor the Atlantic, and that’s why it is so important to educate students so they can contribute in their future careers to this ever rapidly growing sector, and Portugal has a lot of potential in its development”, shares Alexandre Silva to SIC Notícias.
In the Media: RTP; SIC Notícias, Eco Sapo, Guimarães Agora, Free Guimarães.
Other articles featuring PROMETHEUS-1:
