The first nanosatellite of the Catalan Government successfully launched, marking important milestone of Catalonia’s NewSpace strategy

This is the first of several nanosatellites that the Catalan Government will place in orbit, and will provide Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity and 5G coverage throughout Catalonia, one of the main objectives of the NewSpace strategy

Today, 22 March 2021, the first nanosatellite of the Catalan Government (Generalitat de Catalunya) took off at 7:07:12 am (CET), from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan. This is the first of several nanosatellites that the Catalan Government will put into orbit in the framework of the NewSpace Strategy for Catalonia, a strategic direction that by 2025 aims to generate industrial development, multiplying the Catalan company landscape 2,5 times, create 1200 new jobs and bring a 280 million euro turnover.

The launch, conducted by the Russian company GK Launch Services, was initially scheduled on 20 March but had to be postponed due to technical reasons. Today, aboard a Soyuz 2 rocket, the satellite successfully reached its target orbit. Unlike large geostationary satellites, which are located at an altitude of almost 36,000 kilometers, the nanosatellite is located in a low orbit, at 550 km above our surface planet. It will have a calibration period of about 3 to 4 weeks before it starts providing global Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity services with 5G coverage. The satellite will operate for a period of 3 to 4 years and then it will be forced to re-enter the atmosphere and disintegrate.

Caption: Exact moment of the launch of the Soyuz 2 rocket that carried and put in orbit the nanosatellite “Enxaneta”. 
Credits: GK Launch Services.

Named “Enxaneta” by the children of Catalonia, the nanosatellite has been developed by the Catalan companies Sateliot and Open Cosmos through a contract tendered by the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC — Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya).

The nanosatellite is a 3-unit CubeSat, about the size of a shoe box and weighing about 10 kg. It travels at a speed of about 7 km per second and makes a full rotation around the Earth every 90 minutes. It will pass over Catalonia twice a day. Its location can be followed, at any time, in this link. 

“Enxaneta” will transmit all the collected data to the Ground Station of the Montsec Observatory (OAdM), located in Sant Esteve de la Sarga, in the Pallars Jussà, and managed by IEEC. 

Caption: Previous and exact moments of the launch of the Soyuz 2 rocket, live, and an artistic recreation of it after the first seconds of the take off. 
Credits: GK Launch Services.

“The satellite will gather data from sensors located throughout the Catalan territory, even in areas that are difficult to access or that do not have coverage with the conventional terrestrial telecommunications networks,” explains the director of IEEC, Ignasi Ribas.

The data will initially be used by the departments of the Catalan Government, with the aim to open data access to universities, research centers, technology centers and companies, later on. Among other applications, the data will be used to monitor the flow of rivers and water reserves throughout the territory, improving water management; to monitor and protect wildlife; to receive weather data from stations located in remote locations; to monitor soil movements to anticipate natural disasters and to monitor livestock and crops to detect disease and define more efficient strategies.

Caption: Image of the nanosatellite “Enxaneta”, once placed in the dispenser by the Open Cosmos company staff. 
Credits: Open Cosmos.

The launch was broadcasted live on the website ensposemenorbita.cat, which also hosted the live broadcast of an event organised by the Catalan Government at the science museum CosmoCaixa. The event was attended by the Minister of Digital Policy and Public Administration, Jordi Puigneró, accompanied by the director of IEEC, Ignasi Ribas, Mariona Bádenas, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and IEEC collaborator, the engineer at the GTD Systems company and co-leader of Women in Aerospace Europe, Mireia Colina, and the IEEC researcher and professor at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Miquel Sureda.

The launch of this nanosatellite demonstrates the excellent capabilities of Catalan industry and research. With this first satellite, the Government of Catalonia aims to build on existing knowledge and further expand Catalonia's role in the new space economy, making it a hub of innovation, leadership and talent attraction.

Caption: Image of the payload of the Soyuz 2 rocket, with the nanosatellite “Enxaneta” attached to it (marked with a red circle). 
Credits: GK Launch Services. 

Links

– IEEC
– NewSpace Strategy for Catalonia 
– Sateliot
– Open Cosmos

More information

The Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC  — Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya) promotes and coordinates space research and technology development in Catalonia for the benefit of society. IEEC fosters collaborations both locally and worldwide and is an efficient agent of knowledge, innovation and technology transfer. As a result of 25 years of high-quality research, done in collaboration with major international organisations, IEEC ranks among the best international research centers, focusing on areas such as: astrophysics, cosmology, planetary science, and Earth Observation. IEEC’s engineering division develops instrumentation for ground- and space-based projects, and has extensive experience in working with private or public organisations from the aerospace and other innovation sectors.  

IEEC is a private non-profit foundation, governed by a Board of Trustees composed of Generalitat de Catalunya and four other institutions that each have a research unit, which together constitute the core of IEEC R&D activity: the University of Barcelona (UB) with the research unit ICCUB — Institute of Cosmos Sciences; the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) with the research unit CERES — Center of Space Studies and Research; the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) with the research unit CTE — Research Group in Space Sciences and Technologies; the Spanish Research Council (CSIC) with the research unit ICE — Institute of Space Sciences. IEEC is a CERCA (Centres de Recerca de Catalunya) center.

Image

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Caption: Soyuz 2 rocket at the moment of the launch. 
Credits: GK Launch Services.

Contacts

IEEC Communication Office
Barcelona, Spain
Ana Montaner and Rosa Rodríguez
E-mail: comunicacio@ieec.cat