Teams selected for the March 2026 test window
Following a call for proposals launched in September 2025, TRACE team from TU Darmstadt Space Technology and GIFTS team from University College Dublin have been selected for the March 2026 test window of ESA's Fly Your Satellite! Test Opportunities programme. The proposal evaluation and selection were carried out by Fly Your Satellite! experts and CubeSat Support Facility operators. The teams are now ready to dive into environmental testing and eventually testing their device at ESA facilities.
The selection process
With the latest Fly Your Satellite! (FYS) call for proposals opened in September 2025, ESA invited university student teams from ESA Member States, Canada, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia to participate in the FYS Test Opportunities programme. This initiative offers support and training in conducting an environmental test campaign, with mainly educational objectives.
For the March 2026 four-week test window, two outstanding teams were selected for a two-week test campaign each at the CubeSat Support Facility (CSF): the TRACE team from TU Darmstadt Space Technology and the GIFTS team from University College Dublin (UCD).
The student teams were invited to present their test proposal at the programme kick-off meeting held in November 2025. Both teams did an outstanding job in presenting their test proposals and responding to the questions raised by ESA experts. During the same event, students also attended a webinar on environmental testing hosted by CSF operators.
The TRACE team had previously been selected for the October 2025 test window but was unable to meet the requirements to run their test campaign. However, they successfully applied again to the programme, and they are now getting ready for a new testing opportunity, demonstrating resilience and determination—qualities that define future space engineers.
GIFTS, University College Dublin, School of Physics – Ireland
Gamma-ray Investigation of the Full Transient Sky (GIFTS) is an 8U CubeSat designed to detect gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) in low Earth orbit. The CubeSat is currently being developed at UCD School of Physics. The payload comprises six compact scintillator detectors arranged in two clusters around a central satellite bus.
The upcoming environmental test campaign will focus on one of the GIFTS detector clusters. The campaign will comprise vibration and thermal-vacuum tests along with functional tests to ensure the payload will survive launch and operations in the space. Once launched, the GIFTS mission will make a significant contribution to gamma-ray burst science and multi-messenger astronomy, aiming to unlock new insights into the Universe.
TRACE, TU Darmstadt Research CubeSat for Education, TU Darmstadt Space Technology – Germany
The TU Darmstadt Research CubeSat for Education (TRACE) is a 2U CubeSat designed by the student association TU Darmstadt Space Technology (TUDSaT) e.V., with the support of the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) and the Institute for Flight Systems and Automatic Control of TU Darmstadt.
Planned to launch in 2026, TRACE will pursue two exciting missions. The primary mission aims to demonstrate a lightweight and cost-effective technology for passive, laser-based orbit and attitude determination using retroreflective foils (RRFs). The secondary mission consists of a space weather measurement campaign utilizing a novel sensor technology. For TRACE team, the test campaign is a key step in the acceptance of the protoflight model of the satellite.
What is next?
Following the test preparation phase, both teams will have to secure the “green light” for the test execution. Upon positive outcome, they will conduct environmental testing at the CSF during their designated two-week test window.
Stay tuned for updates as these teams prepare for their big moment and discover how you can be part of future Fly Your Satellite! opportunities. More information can be found here.