Quote: _dreamprince_: The Aalto-1, Finland's first satellite and
completely student-realised, will see a
continuation as Aalto-2 is now ready for
space. Construction of the Aalto-2 satellite
began in 2012, as a doctoral project, when the
first students graduated as a Master’s of
Science in Technology after working on the
Aalto-1 project.
'The project aims to further develop the
technologies and know-how initially developed
in the Aalto-1 project. Aalto-1 and Aalto-2 are
Aalto's next generation's tour de force in
space technology,' responsible project leader,
Assistant Professor Jaan Praks says happily.
Aalto-2 will take part in the international
QB50 Mission, the aim of which is to produce
the first ever comprehensive model of the
features of the thermosphere, the layer
between the Earth's atmosphere and space. A
total of 50 nanosatellites will take part in the
project, which will be launched as a satellite
cluster on a low orbit. The satellites will
spread rapidly across a large area on the
orbit, and then less than half a year later fall
into the Earth's atmosphere, where they will
burn due to friction.
'Aalto-2 will be carrying the multi-Needle
Langmuir Probe (mNLP) payload developed at
the University of Oslo for the measurement of
plasma characteristics. Our team's primary
goal will be to demonstrate how well the
satellite platform designed and built at Aalto
University functions in challenging conditions
of space,' Tuomas Tikka Project and Quality
Manager for the Aalto-2 satellite explains.
Launch at the end of the year
The satellite's multi-stage journey from
Otaniemi, Espoo to orbit will begin next week,
when it is delivered to Dutch company Delft's
Innovative Solutions in Space cleanroom. Final
checks will be run on the satellite in the
cleanroom after which it will be attached to
the Nanorack's launch adapter. From there, its
journey will continue to east coast of the
United States to await the launch of the ATK's
Antares rocket and the Cygnus cargo vessel to
the ISS international space station. The
launch is to take place the end of 2016.
'After the cargo arrives at the international
space station, the launch adapter will be
installed by astronauts to the robot arm. This
will allow the satellite to be safely detached to
the correct orbit. If the station's astronauts
film the detachment, we will see Aalto 2-
satellite once after we install it next week to
the launch adapter,' Mr Tikka explains.
Dozens of students from Aalto University's
different departments have participated in the
design and construction of the satellite. The
Aalto-2 satellite's Project and Quality Manager
Tuomas Tikka, System Engineer Nemanja
Jovanovic and System Designer Janne Kuhn
will perform integration to the launch adapter
in the Netherlands. Funding for the Aalto-2
project comes from Tekes and Aalto
University.