Intl team in Czechia set to prepare Estonian satellite for launch

The Estcube-2 satellite. Photo: Eero Vabamägi

A team from the Estcube student satellite project set off from Toravere, Estonia, on Saturday morning to safely transport the Estcube-2 satellite to the city of Brno in the Czech Republic where an international team preparing the launch vehicle will take over.

"After handing over the satellite, the Estcube-2 team will have done all it can and cannot contribute to the mission any further," Hans Teras, project manager of Estcube-2, explained.

The members of the Estcube team will have the opportunity to examine all final preparations for the space flight. The satellite will be attached to a rocket module and sent by plane from the Czech Republic to French Guiana in South America. According to the plan, the satellite will launch between Sept. 13 and 18 from the Kourou spaceport aboard an Arianespace Vega rocket.

"There are many risks associated with a rocket launch that could lead to a failure and the loss of the launch vehicle and all its cargo," Teras explained.

The Vega rocket has proven its reliability over the years, having made several successful launches. For its part, Estcube-2 has withstood all the shock and vacuum tests conducted in the Tartu Observatory laboratory, confirming that the satellite can cope with the extreme conditions in space.

Estcube-2 is a cube satellite developed mainly by students of the University of Tartu at the Tartu Observatory. It is the successor to the Estcube-1 satellite, launched into orbit in 2013, which was Estonia's first satellite. In the meantime, two cube satellites from the Tallinn University of Technology have also been sent into orbit. The primary scientific objective of Estcube-2 is to test a plasma brake, also known as a solar sail.