www.wroclaw.pl The link will open in a new tab

The first student nanosatellite from Wroclaw is being developed

The first student nanosatellite from Wroclaw is being created by the engineers from the Wroclaw University of Science and Technology (PWr) Aerospace scientific association. The patronage over the WroSat project was taken by the Wroclaw Technology Park.

PWr Aerospace students have been active since 2016, the circle's supervisor is Paweł Kabacik, Ph.

Their list of achievements includes stratospheric and rocket missions, and at international competitions they presented the probes they constructed. They actively participate in university events, Polish space conferences and support science camps. They organise workshops and lectures, both for students and for children and young people.

Now PWr Aerospace are trying to do a more serious project: they decided to build their own satellite.

- Studying at a technical university gives us skills that have helped us a lot in space engineering. Since the beginning of the club, we have been using them for smaller projects. After four years of activity there came a moment when we decided that our team is ready to take up a new challenge, which is building a satellite. We were supported by students from other scientific circles that had previously carried out equally daring space projects, such as building the Mars rover or designing the "Twardowsky" Mars habitat. Thanks to this, we have created a team consisting of specialists in electronics, mechanics, physics, chemistry, management, PR and popularisation of science, who are not afraid of space challenges.

- says Tobiasz Wojnar, the president of the PWr Aerospace Society.
Members of the team WroSat
Members of the team WroSat

Space is waiting for the brave

The main goal of the WroSat project is to train students so that after graduation they will have experience in working on space projects. There will be more and more tasks for them, because the development of the space industry in Poland is dynamic.

Part of the project is the implementation of three scientific experiments related to perovskite photovoltaic cells, protection against cosmic radiation and development of a robotic arm driven by actuators using shape memory alloys.

Work on the project began in June 2020. The initial tasks were to establish a plan to build the satellite using resources from the European Cooperation for Space Standardisation. Then the project team was formed, and in November the Wroclaw citizens officially announced their project at the World Space Week Wroclaw 2020 conference. 

The next stage involved defining the objectives of the planned experiments and the scope of the satellite's components. 

- For the following months we worked, creating schematics, models and simulations, so that in October 2021 we could start the prototype construction phase. At the same time, we bet on strong development of the project in social media. Wanting to popularise space engineering, we posted updates about our project on our Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn profiles, as well as our website. In December, we organised a "Learning Session with WroSat", i.e. a block of lectures about our project, and in February "Mars2020 - Discussion Club", in which we followed the landing of the Perseverance rover on Mars together with experts.

- Katarzyna Ignatowic from PWr Aerospace, PR department leader

Currently, students are working on prototypes of basic components - the power module, radio module, satellite frame and control systems. 

It will take several months to test the basic functions of the construction. At the end of June 2022, it is planned to build a prototype, which in the space industry is referred to as FlatSat.

 

To orbit in a year

The next phase of work will be to eliminate potential errors and problems that are detected, so that in March 2023 the construction of the target satellite will be completed. It is expected to go into orbit at the end of 2023.

Currently, the PWr Aerospace scientific circle is raising funds for the project, whose budget is about 1 million PLN, students are actively looking for sponsors and partners for the project.

- Space projects are difficult undertakings that require knowledge, experience and funding. A great support for us is the help from the Wroclaw Technology Park, which is a natural partner for us due to the fact that it is a community of many technical companies gathered in one place. Thanks to the cooperation with WPT we can use laboratories, knowledge of experts from many industries, and we also have the opportunity to promote our project among potential mentors and sponsors.

- sums up Mateusz Dmitrzak, the project deputy.

More information about the project can be found at www.wrosat.pl. 

Source: www.technologpark.pl