Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Credit: AMNA
The first Greek nanosatellite designed and built by undergraduate students is set for launch into space on Sunday, March 29, as announced by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH), the biggest university in Greece.
Students from the SpaceDot team created not just a satellite, but a complete space system, in the labs of the AUTH and the Democritus University of Thrace.
The mission focuses on demonstrating innovative laser optical communications technologies in low Earth orbit (LEO). Through this technology, the team expects to achieve data transmission speeds of up to 100 Mbps.
The launch will be celebrated with an open gathering at AUTH, half past midday local time, to watch the broadcast of the launch as the satellite goes into orbit. Attendants will have the opportunity to see models of the satellites and learn about the journey of the creation of the satellite and the science behind the achievement.
Greek students’ nanosatellite project marks important milestone
Named PeakSat, the first Greek nanosatellite designed and built entirely by undergraduate students, is a project developed at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH).
It started in April 2023 under the title “Nanosatellite for Optical Communications Application” as a comprehensive effort to design, build and operate a CubeSat 3U satellite.
PeakSat is expected to be launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, as part of the Transporter-16 rideshare mission, marking AUTH’s entry into the global space map.
The nanosatellite has already been delivered to Exolaunch, which has undertaken its integration into the mission.
The main objective of its mission is to achieve optical communication between the satellite and ground stations in Greece, centered on the optical station in Holomontas, Halkidiki.
The event marks an important milestone for the Greek academic community.