Ongoing

ROBUSTA-3A Méditerranée

  • 3U CubeSat
  • Development time: 8 years
    • Started in 2013, completion and launch in 2021
  • Estimated number of students involved: 300
  • Mission duration: 2 years

Mission for Meteo France (the French weather forecast organisation):

Three times bigger than ROBUSTA-1U, Méditerranée will be able to point to a specific location on Earth in order to collect environmental data, which, once sent to Meteo France, will allow them to forecast the severe autumnal rainfalls in the South of France and alert the local people of these regions.

Co-financed by Van Allen Foundation and CNES within CNES JANUS program

Student internships financed by Van Allen Foundation

ROBUSTA-1D CELESTA

  • 1U CubeSat
  • Estimated development time: 5 years
    • From 2015 to 2020 (ready for launch)
  • Estimated number of students involved: 50

Mission en partenariat avec le CERN :

Comparer l’environnement radiatif en orbite basse autour de la Terre et celui qui est produit dans la chambre d’irradiation CHARM au moyen d’un moniteur de radiations (le détecteur RADMON) du CERN. L’Organisation européenne pour la recherche nucléaire est le plus grand centre de physique des particules du monde. CELESTA  a été selectionné parmi les meilleures équipes européennes  pour faire partie du programme Fly Your Satellite ! de l’ESA.

Co-financed by CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research

ROBUSTA-1C MTCube

July 5th 2019

  • 1U CubeSat
  • Estimated development time: 4 years, from 2014 to 2019 (ready for launch)
  • Number of students involved: 50

Mission for ESA:

Measuring the error rate and error location on different types of flash memories in space.

Co-financed by Van Allen Foundation and ESA.

Student internships financed by Van Allen Foundation.

ROBUSTA-1B

2nd French nanosatellite in orbit

June 23rd 2017

Launched by an Indian PSLV rocket from India in June 2017 and has been in operation since.

3+ years of measurements

Operational

  • 1U CubeSat
  • Development time: 4 years, started in 2012, ready for launch in 2015, launched in 2017, currently in operation.
  • Number of students involved: 50
  • Mission duration: 2 years

Mission:

Validating a new radiation test standard and a new communication bus.

Co-financed by Van Allen Foundation and ESA

Student internships financed by Van Allen Foundation

See the retrospective (French)

Completed

ROBUSTA-1A

The first French nanosatellite launched into space

February, 13th 2012

Launched on the VEGA maiden flight

March 2015

Re-entry and end of life

  • Type of nanosatellite: 1U CubeSat
  • Development time: 6 years
    • From 2006 to 2012 (ready for launch)
  • Number of students involved: 300

Mission:

Measuring the effect of space radiation on electronic components made up of bipolar transistors

Co-financed by CNES within EXPRESSO program

FRIENDS

The French Russian Payload or FRIENDS project for the Russian Baumanets-2 microsatellite of Bauman Technical State University, Moscow.

French Russian project initiated in 2009 by the French and Russian Ministers of Research. The payload developed by the University Space Center was delivered to Bauman in May 2015. Unfortunately Baumanets-2 and the FRP were completely destroyed in the crash of the Soyuz 2.1 launcher in November 2017. This joint collaboration was nevertheless a great experience for CSU and the Youth Space Center of Bauman.

  • Type of satellite: microsatellite (10 to 100 kg)
  • Development time of payload: 7 years
    • From 2009 to 2015 (ready for delivery)
  • Number of students involved: 50

Mission for Bauman Technical State University:

Similar to ROBUSTA-1A, measuring the effects of space radiation on electronic components made up of bipolar transistors.

Co-financed by CNES and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Student internships financed by Van Allen Foundation

SACRED

The unlucky SACRED nanosatellite

French-American project. The experiment developed by the French team was placed on board the SACRED CubeSat of the University of Arizona. SACRED was launched in July 2006 but the launcher exploded at take-off with all its cargo.

SACRED [University of Arizona]
  • Development time of payload: 2 years
    • From 2001 to 2003 (ready for launch)
  • Estimated number of students involved: 5

Mission for Arizona University:

Measuring the effect of space radiation on MOS power transistors

Financed by Thales Alenia Space