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Ireland has joined the space club with the launch of its first satellite in low Earth orbit, setting the stage for students of all ages on the Emerald Isle to participate in space science.
The Irish Educational Research Satellite-1 (Eirsat-1) launched into space from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on December 1. About an hour and a half after launch, the small satellite, no bigger than a brick, was opened and its antenna attached.
Eirsat-1 communicated with its crew via the ground station here World on December 2, and is operating as expected. As of December 4th, the land management has happily received and posted information from the minor. satellite.
Developed by about 50 students at University College Dublin (UCD), Eirsat-1 is still in the design phase but is expected to enter operation and begin collecting scientific data soon in the new moon.
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UCD Space Science postdoctoral researcher David Murphy, who has been involved in Eirsat-1 for six years, described the feeling of witnessing the satellite heading into space.
“It’s really amazing. You see these ads streaming on the internet all the time, but it’s a completely different thing to see it with your own eyes and to have that investment of having a payload on a rocket,” Murphy told Space.com. “We were overwhelmed, and the tears definitely started to flow.”
Welcome to Eirsat-1 tests
Eirsat-1 carries three main instruments. They will study different things, collecting data that can help solve some of the most difficult mysteries of science as well as help in future missions.
“So there are three scientific payloads on board,” Murphy said. “Those are the Gamma-Ray Detector (GMOD), an ENBIO thermal object detector Module (EMOD), and then the Wave-Based Control (WBC) algorithm.”
GMOD will detect electromagnetic energy called gamma rays outside the interference of Earth’s atmosphere. The data he collects can help to determine the sources of the energy of this radiation, which is believed to be accidental events such as supernovas – events that occur when massive stars die – and neutron star collisions, black hole or a mixture between the two. GMOD is based on 10 detection methods gamma-ray burst every year.
Eirsat-1’s EMOD model is designed to test the SolarWhite and SolarBlack thermal treatments, which are currently being used near the sun by the European Space Agency. Solar controlmission, but in low-Earth orbit. It is thought that the oxygen atoms in the Earth that are not found where the Solar Orbiter is working can destroy the surface of the ships, so the data collected by EMOD can be important in the development of the surface ships for the future.
The WBC is an experiment that uses magnetic fields generated in a spacecraft to interact with the Earth’s magnetic field and control altitude. This technology can be adapted in the future to also control how satellites move, allowing spaceships to ride on magnetic waves with low energy and weight with no moving parts.
“Right now, it looks like it’s going to be more than two and a half years in orbit with Eirsat-1,” Murphy said.
“That’s the special mission, but we will use this asset as long as it can teach students,” he added, “so that the next generation of astronauts and engineers can have the experience with an aircraft carrier.”
UCD PhD student and Eirsat-1 representative Bas Stijnen told Space.com that Eirsat-1 was installed at a much smaller scale than required, adding that this cycle it can continue to be used for about four years before it goes away.
“The satellite that was injected into an orbit is at the bottom, which means that the orbital life will be very short. We are looking at three and a half, maybe four years while Eirsat-1 was not destroyed,” Stijnen said. “We’re in no rush, but we have to make sure now to use the time we have to do the science we want to do.”
As exciting as the satellite’s scientific work is, Murphy says the impact of Eirstat-1 on education and business in Ireland may be the satellite’s longest-lasting and most important legacy.
“Hopefully, we have inspired the next generation of students to build another Irish satellite and another Irish satellite after that and show that it can be done at a university, and this is something that many universities in Ireland can do. then achieve,” Murphy concluded. “Hopefully, this is just the beginning of the ongoing opportunities we will create in Irish industry and education.”