[SatNews] The first Polish satellite is expected to climb to orbit aboard the new Vega launch vehicle...

PW-Sat, a student Cubesat project, has just been delivered to ESTEC (European Space Research and Technology Center) in the Netherlands. This is an important step towards the launch of this mission. PW-Sat is a small-satellite project led by the Warsaw University of Technology (Politechnika Warszawska – PW in short). The project was initiated in 2005 and, since the beginning, was designed and developed as a 1U CubeSat (one unit – one litre of volume). The main purpose of PW-Sat is to demonstrate a speed-up of the deorbitation process and to familiarize students with a real satellite project. Throughout the years, the design of PW-Sat changed several times – for example, a sail-type experiment was tested. After some changes in design, a tail-like (length – 200 cm) structure was chosen, which will be tested once PW-Sat reaches orbit. PW-Sat was selected by the European Space Agency to be launched aboard the new European small-size rocket (Vega) together with eight other small CubeSats. After some delays, it is probable that Vega rocket will launch for the first time in January 2012. PW-Sat will be launched on this maiden flight.

In order to secure the place on the first Vega rocket, the flight model of PW-Sat had to be assembled in the first week of October 2011. Later a short set of tests (vibrations, functional tests and vacuum-thermal checks) were done, after which the satellite was sent to ESTEC in Netherlands. On the 18th of October 2011, the PW-Sat ha sreached ESTEC as the first delivered Cubesat, where it will undergo a series of additional tests. This small student’s CubeSat is going to be the first Polish satellite, fully designed and assembled in Poland. Although Polish universities and science institutes have a long tradition in space missions, as demonstrated in several different and ambitious instruments, a full satellite was never built in Poland. Then, a few months later, the first Polish scientific satellite – BRITE-PL “Lem” – will be launched, probably on board a Dnepr rocket.