Leader of a nationwide initiative in favor of university satellites

Our success as the first University Space Center in Montpellier has generated a lot of enthusiasm and other university space centers are emerging in France.
We are proud to have initiated this movement and are looking forward to future collaborations with our national counterparts.

Nanosatellites / 1-unit and 3-Unit CubeSats

Development of 2 lines of nanosatellites:

Unit (or 1U) CubeSats;
Unit (or 3U) (CubeSats also called triple CubeSats);

University nanosatellites

Entirely designed and built by students, supervised by university staff and coached by space sector industrialists

Member of CNES's Space Care Collective

Montpellier University is the only training organization in the Space Care Collective launched by CNES and professionals in the space sector (satellite manufacturers, launchers and operators).

Strategic support of the highest level

The Executive Board of the Van Allen Foundation is made up of high ranking space specialists from CNES, ESA and NASA’s JPL. They promote the nanosatellite development strategy set up by the University Space Center.

ROBUSTA-1A (Radiation On Bipolar for University Satellite Test Application): The first French nanosatellite, was placed in orbit in February 2012 by the European Launcher VEGA. Its mission was completed in March 2015.
ROBUSTA-1B: Launched in June 2017 by an Indian PSLV rocket and is still orbiting the Earth at an altitude of 500 km. It sends data packages to the CSU several times a day.

Collaboration with RADIAC, a well-established expert in the field of radiation

The space radiation environment is particularly damaging to on-board electronics. The CSU has worked with the RADIAC (Radiation and Components) research group of the IES (Electronics and Systems Institute) Laboratory of Montpellier University for several years on these issues. RADIAC is one the world leaders in the field of the effects of radiation on electronic systems on the ground and in space.

First building in France entirely dedicated to nanosatellite engineering

The objective of this project was to gather together all nanosatellite-related equipment, facilities and people, (researchers, trainers, professionals, etc…), and then to place students at the heart of this system.

The construction of the building was financed by the Occitanie Pyrénées Méditerranée Region.

The CSU is a place where all the researchers and students from the Montpellier University work together in close collaboration with companies such as :

INTESPACE

The European leader of environmental satellite tests

SYSTHEIA

the constructor of space microcameras

TECNALIA FRANCE

Research and technology in industrial robotics

TRAD

Test and radiation on electronics

And with technology transfer organizations :

IES

(Institut d’Electronique et des Systèmes) et son unité de recherche RADIAC (Radiations et Composants)

AXLR SATT, et LANGUEDOC-ROUSSILLON INCUBATION

LIRMM

Laboratoire Informatique Robotique Microélectronique Montpellier

LMGC

Laboratoire de Mécanique et Génie Civil

The building comprises of:

A radio-communication room and control center
A dedicated CIC room (concurrent engineering center)
2 workshops
A clean room

We welcome students from all levels of higher education, various engineering (mechanical, electronic, IT…) disciplines, various non-engineering disciplines (project management, PR…) and from different social backgrounds and nationalities.