Tuesday, 16 July 2024
Post-graduate students and lecturers from the University of Nottingham have helped to support the European Space Agency (ESA) during the launch of their Young Professional’s Satellite, YPSat, using the monitoring ground station in the heart of University Park campus.
The NottSpace Lab provided ground station support for the mission, with advanced capabilities enabling students to receive signals from the satellite, which was launched onboard the maiden flight of Ariane 6 on 9 July.
Ariane 6, which launched from French Guinea, reinstates Europe's independent access to space following on from the retirement of Ariane 5 this time last year.
The YPSat project was managed entirely by a team of young professionals at ESA, and aimed to record crucial phases of Ariane 6's flight including its fairing ejection and the deployment of CubeSats – a type of nanosatellite.
The ground station based at the University of Nottingham, along with other ground stations around the world, played a crucial role in receiving telemetry data from YPSat during its three-hour mission.
After working with ESA for several months to plan the exercise, students were able to effectively track the satellite and receive accurate data after the small satellites were successfully deployed.
It is hoped that one experiment hosted on this payload will have collected magnetic data along the flight path of Ariane 6 and, along with data collected by similar experiments on the International Space Station, will be used to build a detailed map of the Earth’s magnetic field.
The NottSpace team preparing the ground station for tracking the YPSat mission after the successful launch of Ariane 6 (L-R: Luis Cormier, Sedat Izcan).
The University of Nottingham was the only university from the UK to support ESA's YPSat mission through ground station support, which was completely run and operated by students, providing students with a unique and hands-on experience to support space activity.
In addition to tracking and supporting missions like this, the NottSpace ground station will be heavily used to command and receive data from JamSail, the university’s first CubeSat, which will be launched by the end of 2026. This mission will aim to collect data about sources of satellite navigation interference, and will be used to improve the robustness and resilience of critical infrastructure which uses these technologies.
Being able to play a part in receiving data from this important mission alongside collaborators from across Europe was an incredible experience, and taught me a lot about spacecraft communications and tracking."
He continued: “With the mission designed and launched by young professionals at ESA, it showed how important hands-on experiences like this are at university for developing the skills needed for a career in space. I look forward to our team supporting other similar missions in the future, as well as our own CubeSat when it launches in the coming years.”
Dr Chantal Cappelletti, Assistant Professor in Aerospace Engineering, said: “I am happy and grateful to see our Ground Station operational and our students actively involved in receiving satellites from space. This hands-on experience and the opportunity to be part of a real space mission, especially in an international context supervised by the European Space Agency, is an extraordinary opportunity for students at the University of Nottingham. As the University of Nottingham Space Engineering team (NottSpace), we look forward to receiving other satellites and, hopefully, our own satellites soon from space."
Dr. Nishanth Pushparaj, Assistant Professor in Aerospace Engineering, added: "We are proud of our collaboration with ESA on the YPSat mission. Supporting this mission onboard the maiden flight of Ariane 6 through the University of Nottingham's ground station is a testament to our commitment to fostering innovation and excellence in space exploration."
Story credits
More information is available from Dr Nishanth Pushparaj on Nishanth.Pushparaj@nottingham.ac.uk
Faith Pring - Media Relations Manager
Email: faith.pring@nottingham.ac.uk
Phone: 0115 748 4411
Location: University of Nottingham, University Park
Notes to editors:
About the University of Nottingham
Ranked 32 in Europe and 16th in the UK by the QS World University Rankings: Europe 2024, the University of Nottingham is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience, and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our students. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement.
Nottingham was crowned Sports University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 – the third time it has been given the honour since 2018 – and by the Daily Mail University Guide 2024.
The university is among the best universities in the UK for the strength of our research, positioned seventh for research power in the UK according to REF 2021. The birthplace of discoveries such as MRI and ibuprofen, our innovations transform lives and tackle global problems such as sustainable food supplies, ending modern slavery, developing greener transport, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The university is a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally - and our graduates are the second most targeted by the UK's top employers, according to The Graduate Market in 2022 report by High Fliers Research.
We lead the Universities for Nottingham initiative, in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, a pioneering collaboration between the city’s two world-class institutions to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing for residents in the city and region we are proud to call home.
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