Xatcobeo, originally known as ''Dieste'', is a project to build the first Galician

artificial satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scienti ...

developed by Agrupación Estratéxica Aeroespacial (currently

Alén Space Alén Space is a Spanish company in the NewSpace sector, located in Vigo ( Galicia, Spain). Alén Space designs, constructs, and develops software and hardware for artificial satellites. Since 2008, the company builds nanosatellites below CubeS ...

) of the

University of Vigo The University of Vigo () is a public university located in the city of Vigo in the Province of Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain. There are three campuses: * Campus of Vigo in Lagoas-Marcosende, 15 kilometres away from the city centre. Also known a ...

and leadered by Fernando Aguado in collaboration with the Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial (INTA) and with the support of the Galician

government-owned corporation A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a business entity created or owned by a national or local government, either through an executive order or legislation. SOEs aim to generate profit for the government, prevent private sector monopolies, provide goo ...

Retegal. The project was presented to the

European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...

for its launch in the inaugural flight of the Vega rocket from the

Guiana Space Centre The Guiana Space Centre (; CSG), also called Europe's Spaceport, is a spaceport to the northwest of Kourou in French Guiana, an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas region of France in South America. Kourou is located approxim ...

, in

Kourou Kourou (; ) is a commune in French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France in South America. Kourou is famous for being the location of the Guiana Space Centre, the main spaceport of France and the European Space Agency (ESA). It ...

(

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

). Its life will be between 6 and 12 months, and its cost will be around 1.2 million

euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

s, being 50% funded by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Investigación of Spain, 25% by Retegal and in the last 25% jointly by the University of Vigo and INTA. It is a

Cubesat A CubeSat is a class of small satellite with a form factor of cubes. CubeSats have a mass of no more than per unit,, url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5418c831e4b0fa4ecac1bacd/t/5f24997b6deea10cc52bb016/1596234122437/CDS+REV14+2020-07-3 ...

-type satellite and its objective will be to do research related with

communication Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether Intention, unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not onl ...

s and with

solar power Solar power, also known as solar electricity, is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Solar panels use the photovoltaic effect to c ...

in satellites.

External links

Xatcobeo Web

Department of Signal Theory and Communications (TSC) Web

Laboratory of Applied Computer Science (LIA) Web
La Región
, november 22, 2009
National Institute of Aerospace Technology (INTA) Web

Superior Technical School of Telecommunication Engineering Web

Superior Technical School of Computer Science Engineering Web

University of Vigo WebEuropean Space Agency Website: "Meet the teams: Xatcobeo"Xatcobeo - eoPortal Directory - Satellite Missions

References

Science and technology in Galicia (Spain) Student satellites CubeSats Satellites of Spain Spacecraft launched in 2012 Spacecraft launched by Vega rockets 2012 in Spain INTA satellites {{Spain-spacecraft-stub

See also

External links

References