SpaceX launches the DelfiPQ mini-satellite from TU Delft – IT Pro – News

SpaceX launched a small TU Delft satellite into space during a rideshare launch. DelfiPQ is intentionally built very small, and its makers use it to explore how miniature satellites work.

The satellite boarded the Transporter-3 mission. SpaceX’s rideshare Falcon 9 mission dispatched 105 satellites in space. This was the third flight-sharing mission offered by SpaceX. On board the Falcon rocket was the DelfiPQ. This is the third satellite that Delft University of Technology has launched into space.

DelfiPQ is according to makers One of the smallest satellites in the world. The size of the satellite is 5x5x18cm. This was done consciously; Its makers want to test whether satellite lilies can perform well in low Earth orbit. “All the on-board systems that allow a satellite to operate in space, such as antennas, altimeters and power supplies, are smaller than an ordinary satellite,” said researcher Civket Uludağ. “So we had to make everything ourselves: from printed circuit boards to micro-drive systems, from inverters to communication systems.”

The second goal of the mission is to see if a small satellite can be distinguished from a piece of space debris from Earth. Recently there There were several accidents The astronauts had to hide on the International Space Station from potential space debris. Also astronauts on the Chinese space station Tiangong He had to swerveEven if it’s a Starlink satellite.

TU Delft specializes in microsatellites, which are sometimes also called cubes. The university has built and launched a satellite twice before. Delfi C3 was launched in 2008, followed by Delfi-n3Xt in 2013.