Session

Session 10: A Look Back: Lessons Learned

Abstract

This work presents the preliminary results and the lessons learned from the operation, thus far, of the Satellite of the University of Chile for Aerospace Investigation (SUCHAI-1), the first CubeSat mission at the University of Chile. The development of the SUCHAI-1 started in 2011 and was launched in June 23rd 2017 in an Indian PSLV Rocket. The launch resulted in a circular polar sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude close to 505 km. The SUCHAI-1 has operated continuously for more than 12 months except for three days after the mid-September 2017 solar storm. The SUCHAI-1 has been studying the capabilities that CubeSats can offer for scientific missions and collecting data from on-board payloads. This project has been the seed for a much longer space program at the University. Currently two other CubeSats are under construction. In this work, we describe the difficulties and the advantages of developing a nano-satellite project in a developing country and the impact that this project has had in students as well as in the space area in Chile.

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Aug 5th, 5:45 PM

Lessons Learned from Building the First Chilean Nano-satellite: The SUCHAI Project

This work presents the preliminary results and the lessons learned from the operation, thus far, of the Satellite of the University of Chile for Aerospace Investigation (SUCHAI-1), the first CubeSat mission at the University of Chile. The development of the SUCHAI-1 started in 2011 and was launched in June 23rd 2017 in an Indian PSLV Rocket. The launch resulted in a circular polar sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude close to 505 km. The SUCHAI-1 has operated continuously for more than 12 months except for three days after the mid-September 2017 solar storm. The SUCHAI-1 has been studying the capabilities that CubeSats can offer for scientific missions and collecting data from on-board payloads. This project has been the seed for a much longer space program at the University. Currently two other CubeSats are under construction. In this work, we describe the difficulties and the advantages of developing a nano-satellite project in a developing country and the impact that this project has had in students as well as in the space area in Chile.