TU Berlin's CyBEEsat Rides First German Microlauncher
The CyBEEsat team in front of the Isar Aerospace rocket in Andoya - © CyBEEsat
CyBEEsat, a shoebox-sized satellite built by TU Berlin together with the University of Potsdam and six other partners from the region's science and startup scene, is now circling Earth after launching aboard Isar Aerospace's Spectrum rocket on September 5.
According to a press release from TU Berlin, the mission called "Onward and Upward" marked the first time a German satellite rode into space on a European commercial microlauncher. Exolaunch, the company founded by TU Berlin graduate Dmitriy Sternharz, handled the deployment system that released five European satellites into orbit.
The little cube, measuring just over 11 centimeters per side and weighing about two kilograms, wasted no time saying hello. Ground stations around the world picked up its first signals hours after launch, and a well known hacker from the TU satellite community decoded the message: "HELLO WORLD FROM CYBEESAT."
Onboard, CyBEEsat carries some genuinely interesting tech. The ROSI-1 experiment from the University of Potsdam is testing perovskite solar cells that could one day power missions to the Moon and Mars, or even feed football field sized solar farms beaming clean energy back to Earth. The satellite also runs RACCOON, a new open source operating system built with cybersecurity in mind from the ground up, developed alongside the CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security and Ruhr University Bochum.
The onboard computer and electronics came from Quantum Galactics, a startup founded by TU Berlin researcher Jens Freymuth. What makes the whole project stand out is that it was built entirely without a classical project budget. Teams across academia and industry donated their time and resources for years to make it happen.
The mission software will eventually be released as open source for researchers and space enthusiasts to explore.
Learn more about Berlin's New Space ecosystem on our blog.