POSAT -2: The Portuguese satellite has already ended “guidance” and now goes ahead for the last tests before entering the operation – science

When SpaceEx Falcon left 9 rideWithin the ion, the D -Rabbit Space Vehicle, Posat -2 has many expectations of the team Lusospace He counted a series of activities with the Portuguese satellite released More than 30 years after the original posatIn a new Portuguese attack on a place where many heroes have.

Oh POSAT-2 first in a star of 12 Microsatalites designed to monitor marine traffic. At the expense of about one million euros, the satellite Placed in the lower orbit, about 500 km high, Above the international space station.

However Departed on January 14Together with Portuguese Prometius -1 from Uminho, Only on March 23, Posat -2 was launched to the orbit of the earthWhen placed in Ayan to that date, there was a maneuver to increase the height and position. On March 26 The first communication with the satellite was established And the verification of this approach, with the good news that he opened solar panels, was able to produce his own energy, and the communication was established.

Four months later, there were no news about what would be done in the Posat -2 orbit, but Tiago Susa, Lusospace Manager, was confirmed that the operation was for the Tech. The Leop phase is already completed, it has taken a month, and the starting phase is now going on.

See Posat -2 pictures

And what is your purpose? “Leop is a project phase, which aims to have a safe satellite in space ”explains Tiago Sausa.

Still remember The limits in space communications and make all the processes slowly.

“We can only talk to the satellite every 45 minutes, and talk to the windows for less than 10 minutes. This requires a lot of coordination, planning and accuracy in activities,” Tiago Sausa justifies.

The location of the satellite in the space is very important to point out the stations on the ground (ground stations). The process of stopping the rotational movement, when the satellite is released randomly when it is released in a place, it is one of a work during Leop, just like thereA layer of toothFor this, the team depends on the slow external systems to give the right position.

This stage was completed on April 23, and the technical manager of Lusospace said “There are great lessons that the team learned, the next steps of the project are very important, where we have another 11 satellites to run in space”.

These are pictures of the release of January 14

Now this project is in the process of starting, and then ready to start posat-2 AIS and VDES activities. “We are now testing to ensure that all the satellite substations are working. We test the satellite attitude control system to verify that the antenna may refer to the more important location or move the satellite to increase the sunlight of panels, ”he justifies.

This phase is that this phase will end in the mid -June, and then there is time to go to activities, the system is available to Lusospace customers. But the project is not here. “The system will be improved with the opening of the next satellites. The system will be released in 5 October 2025 and another 7 in February 2026,” Tiago Sausa details.