Space Technology and Experiments

Space technology and experiments have a long tradition at the Institute. In 1969 Austria's first space object was launched by a sounding rocket. Since then the Institute has participated in a large number of international Space projects. Current Space projects are concerned with 1) Development of nanosatellites: the flagship project is TUGSAT-1/BRITE-Austria, the first Austrian satellite with the aim to investigate the brightnes variations of massive luminous stars. 2) TU Graz has the lead in the development of an innovative Nanosatellite-Mission, called OPS-SAT. This Project by European Space Agency has the aim to demonstrate novel operational services. Furthermore it allows to conduct Radio and optical communication, attitude control, camera and onboard software experiments. OPS-SAT was launched in December 2019. 3) PRETTY is a 3U CubeSat and is dedicated to climate research. Its payloads consist of a passive reflectometer system and a dosimeter. Its goal is to measure sea and ice level heights by analysing the direct and reflected signals emitted by GNSS satellites.