The satellite PEGASUS, a Cubesat of the QB50 program, has passed the qualification tests and will be launched in June.
QB50 is a European project which brings nanosatellites into orbit in order to investigate a high layer of the atmosphere. The TU Wien Space Team has designed and developed vital components for PEGASUS, which will be brought into orbit by an Indian rocket.
This is an enormous accomplishment for the TU Wien Space Team!
The TU Wien Space Team, which consists of students of the Vienna University of Technology, designed the Power Supply Unit (the heart of PEGASUS), the energy management system, and the board computer (the brain of PEGASUS).
The Power Supply Unit divides the energy harnessed from the solar cells to the various components on board and stores this in batteries. The energy management system is in charge of shutting down defect components in order to maintain the efficiency of the rest of the satellite. The board computer is in charge of collecting the data from the sensors and radio modules. Furthermore, it is also in charge of executing the flight software and processing the mission data. Modules for the connection of the scientific unit and the GPS modules are also implemented. The TU Wien Space Team also developed the software of the bottom plate which has a camera module which can take pictures from space.
“This way, the TU Wien Space Team delivered the Heart, Brain, and Eye of PEGASUS”, explained Georg Janisch (Space Team Teamleader Cubesat)
About the TU Space Team
The TU Wien Space Team is a club of around 70 students from different majors. Alongside their degree they develop experimental rockets in order to launch them at launch competitions and have opportunities to showcase their work at congresses, events, and on TV.
Since the founding of the Space Team 7 years ago they have accumulated more and more members and experience, which increased the amount of prizes to be won at international competitions. The current goal is to develop a rocket which will break the European rocket altitude record, however the annual development of a rocket for the competition held by France’s CSpace is still ongoing. Together with the University Würzburg, the team is also taking part in the german-swedish REXUS/BEXUS program and is developing the so called ‘Raumgleiter’.
A big accomplishment of the team is the construction of the 1:1 model of a Lunar Landing Module for the Google Lunar XPRIZE, which is displayed at the Vienna Museum of Technology.
The goal of the club is to emphasise aerospace engineering projects at TU Wien and to give students the opportunities to use their theoretical knowledge gained at university in interdisciplinary projects.
Most of the hardware was developed by the TU Wien Space Team:
- the energy management system, the Power Supply Unit (PSU)
- the OnBoard Computer (OBC)
- the battery holder and temperature control
- the camera system and Service-Interface of PEGASUS
- the Adaptermodule for GPS and scientific module
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Georg Janisch
Cubesat Projectleader