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The first nanosatellite launched by the Government of Catalonia is in Space. On Monday 22nd of March at 7:07 h, “Enxaneta” took off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The launching has been aboard a Soyuz 2 rocket, which has reached its destination orbit. This nanosatellite is located in a low orbit: 500 km away from Earth. The launching is framed in the NewSpace Strategy of Catalonia, a Government commitment to the new space economy as a sector of the future.
“Enxaneta” has been developed by Open Cosmos and Sateliot tendered by IEEC, which will deploy global IoT connectivity services with 5G network coverage, allowing communications and data collection of sensors located throughout the territory, allowing various implementations like monitoring rivers’ flows and water supplies to improve the efficiency of water management; monitoring and protecting wildlife; receiving weather data; monitoring soil movements to anticipate natural disasters, and monitoring livestock and crops. The nanosatellite is a 3-unit CubeSat, the size of a shoebox, with a 10 kg weight. It travels at a speed of 7 km per second, making a complete turn around Earth every 90 minutes. It will have a calibration period of about 3 to 4 weeks before the service starts.
The nanosatellite will pass over Catalonia twice a day, collecting data to transmit to the Ground Station located in the Montsec Observatory, managed by IEEC. The data will be used by the Government and, later, the idea is to share it with universities, research centers, technical centers, and companies. The satellite will operate for 3 or 4 years, and then it will be forced to reenter the atmosphere and be disintegrated.
The launching has been broadcasted in ensposemenorbita.cat.
The i2CAT Foundation is committed to the Government’s Catalan NewSpace Strategy.
Original source: Ministry for Digital Policy and Public Administration
