CubeSat Support Facility
The CubeSat Support Facility (CSF) is an assembly integration and testing facility for CubeSats, located at the ESA Education Training Centre, based at the ESEC-Galaxia facility in Transinne, Belgium. Its purpose: offer training and test facilities for university students that are part, or aiming to be part, of ESA’s educational CubeSat initiatives such as ‘Fly Your Satellite!' and ‘Fly Your Satellite! Test Opportunities'.
What is the CSF?
The CSF is an nvironmental test laboratory, designed and equipped according to industry quality standards, serving primarily as a training facility that is used for university student projects. The facility is located within an ISO Class 8 cleanroom, where equipment is available to perform thermal and mechanical testing for small educational space equipment and payloads, as well as other tools and equipment readily available for visiting students. There is also a small workshop on-site.
What is its role?
Its main purpose is to support the Assembly Integration and Verification activities of projects within ESA Academy’s hands-on programmes by providing:
- Hands-on support in the preparation and execution of devices verification activities
- A classroom environment, where students can learn ESA and industry best practices.
With this facility, the ESA Education Office is able to provide educational projects with end-to-end support and to offer opportunities to participate in hands-on testing activities to university student teams from an eligible state who would like to receive support and training in conducting an environmental test campaign. This contributes to helping students gain knowledge and experience in satellite engineering and space project management, helping to better prepare them for a career in the space industry.
What testing capabilities does it offer and how is it equipped?
In addition to the laboratory equipment required for the satellite integration, inspections, and functional the CSF is equipped with machines enabling thermal and mechanical testing such as:
- A Thermal Vacuum Chamber (600 mm x 700 mm, Temperature range: -60degC/+100degC, Pressure >=10-6 mbar), to recreate the vacuum and temperature conditions that devices will experience in space, used to perform thermal-vacuum cycling and functional tests, thermal-balance tests and others. This is an essential test to ensure that satellites can survive the harsh conditions of space. Type T thermoocuples are made at disposition of students visiting the laboratory, sensors are connecting to CSF data acquisition system.
2. 20 kN Electrodynamic Shaker system, to perform vibration tests on CubeSat such as random vibration, sine vibration and quasi-static acceleration tests to mimic the vibration environment that a device would experience during launch. Piezoelectric accelerometers are made available to students to connected to a 24-channel data acquisition system
3. Vacuum Oven (<=+200degC, >=10-2 mbar), Can be used for bake-out of subsystems, harnesses and other support equipment but may also be used for curing glue and other processes.
The laboratory is further equipped with anti-static workbenches as part of a multi-purpose space for device inspection as well as functional testing such as:
- Radio Frequency test equipment such as real-time spectrum analyser, digital oscilloscope, manual step attenuators and Software Defined Radio
- Equipment for functional testing such as programmable DC power supplies (mono and dual channels), multimeters etc..
- Equipment and tools for visual inspection and mechanical assembly as digital calliper, torque wrenches and torque drivers
The facility also hosts a dedicated workshop where teams can execute activities that cannot be performed in the cleanroom, such as soldering, drilling, and cutting. In the workshop tools are available and accessible by the teams during their visits to the CSF.
Who can access the facility?
The CSF is primarily open to student teams participating in ESA Academy’s Programmes, offering support to university students to learn about environmental testing with hands-on activities and lectures from experts. If interested in visiting the CSF several opportunities are available, visit the links below:
- Fly Your Satellite!
- Fly Your Satellite! Test Opportunities
- Fly Your Satellite! Design Booster
- Spacecraft Testing Workshop
How do I find out more?
Contact ESA Academy Fly Your Satellite! at: cubesats@esa.int
Request the facility handbook as part of the Test Opportunities call for applications at: Test Opportunities: Facility Handbook and Requirements.