SOURCE team of Fly Your Satellite! conduct electromagnetic susceptibility test campaign

SOURCE stands for Stuttgart Operated University Research CubeSat for Evaluation and Education, and is a three-unit CubeSat with a mission to image meteoroids and study uncontrolled entry into Earth’s atmosphere. It is part of the third edition of Fly Your Satellite!, an ESA Education programme that gives university students the opportunity to design, build, launch, and operate real satellites.

The students have been using the Electromagnetic Compatibility Laboratory at ESTEC to test a Power Conditioning and Distribution Unit (PCDU) that they designed and built themselves. The PCDU is a vital component tasked with retrieving power from solar panels and then distributing it to other devices onboard the CubeSat such as the computer, radio, and payload. The kit undergoing the tests is an Engineering Model, identical to the Flight Model destined for orbit.

“Using the facilities at ESTEC to perform electromagnetic susceptibility measurements was a great experience!” said one of the students. “Talking with the experts and discussing problems and how to solve them is a unique opportunity to gain valuable knowledge. The support of ESA personnel is overall outstanding!”

The test has three main aims:

• Measure how well the PCDU is converting and distributing power, and without emitting any undesired electromagnetic signal;
• Disturb the unit with electrical noise to check that it will still work properly;
• Induce electrical shocks to see if the PCDU can still function.

So far, the tests have revealed some intriguing results that the students are keen to investigate further. This is a positive result, as it is far better for issues to be revealed before SOURCE is launched into space!

“The ESA experts were really cool and went out of their way to help us when we faced problems during our testing campaign,” explained another member of the SOURCE team. “Visiting ESTEC was like a dream came true and I enjoyed being there.”

 The students have not only moved their dream of launching a satellite one step closer, but have also gained valuable experience of working with ESA experts on a space project.

“As a child that dreamed of space explorations it was especially great to see the ESTEC facilities and having the opportunity to join such a project,” said the third student present. “The support and the treatment were very desirable, so that the environment for our work could not be better.”

For more updates, be sure to regularly check the Fly Your Satellite! webpage.