AcubeSAT successfully passes Critical Design Review
AcubeSAT, a project by student team SpaceDot from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, in Greece, has successfully passed the Critical Design Review and can now move on to the next phase of the Fly Your Satellite! programme.
ACubeSAT's mission is to conduct biological experiments to boost our understanding of space-related health defects, while also exploring the potential of yeast as a space cellular factory, producing useful pharmaceutical substances, biofuels, and even food!
Participating in the third cycle of ESA Education’s Fly Your Satellite! programme, AcubeSAT – along with two other teams – undertook a Critical Design Review (CDR) in March 2021. A CDR is an important step in the development of a space mission, during which a panel of experts evaluate the satellite design to ascertain whether it meets all the set requirements. For the Fly Your Satellite! programme, each student team had to deliver a comprehensive data package that was scrutinised by the expert panel who evaluated and challenged the designs.
The SpaceDot team performed sterling work, and the experts were impressed with their plans for AcubeSAT. A significant number of actions that had previously been flagged were closed, and large parts of the CubeSat design had been consolidated in a satisfactory manner. There were some remaining issues that led to continued discussions and support between the students and various ESA specialists, resulting in further design iterations and improvements. These remaining actions have now been addressed, meaning that the review objectives have been achieved and AcubeSAT has officially passed its CDR!
“We grasped this once in lifetime chance,” says one team member. “Let’s build towards the once in a lifetime launch.”
Another student adds, “Designing AcubeSAT under the help and guidance of ESA has been a challenging and rewarding experience. Now, we are eager to continue with the building phase of our satellite!”
AcubeSAT can now move forward with the next phase. Procurement and manufacturing are ongoing, and the students will begin qualifying their payload and critical subsystems in order to be fully confident in their performance before proceeding with satellite integration.
Well done, and best of luck to the team for their next steps!