The 5cm cubic satellite “PROMETHEUS-1”, the size of a Rubik’s-Cube, developed under CMU Portugal Exploratory Research project Prometheus, will soon be launched to Space.
Alba Orbital, the world’s leading PocketQube company, has announced that seven pocket-sized satellites from six countries, including “PROMETHEUS-1”, are scheduled to lift off as part of flight SpaceX’s Transporter-12 Rideshare mission, scheduled for the fall of 2024.
PROMETHEUS-1 and the other six satellites, were integrated into Alba Orbital’s PocketQube Deployer (‘AlbaPod’) at their new facilities in Glasgow, the world’s first PocketQube factory in the beginning of july.
After integration, the cluster of pocket-sized satellites will be shipped to SpaceX before hitching a ride to Low Earth Orbit.
PROMETHEUS-1 was developed at Universidade do Minho in collaboration with Instituto Superior Técnico and Carnegie Mellon University, to provide 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 Zac Manchester team. Alexandre Ferreira da Silva, PI of the project, aims to use this platform in the next academic year in a classroom as an education tool for Aerospace Engineering students at UMinho.
PROMETHEUS project was funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), and this initiative aims to enhance research and educational access to space.
PocketQubes satellites have the right features for education and research purposes. Their small size, cost, and build simplicity (based on COTS), provide versatile options for various missions, from educational projects to advanced technological demonstrations.
Watch here Prometheus getting ready to be launched!
Stay tuned for further updates on PROMETHEUS-1 in the next few months!
In the Media: Expresso, Rádio Universitária do Minho
More in the Alba Orbital original article here.
