Libre Space Foundation: Greece sends tiny satellites into space – See photos

Greece pdraws tiny satellitess in space. In Abatielou Street, in Athens, something is always happening. Mainly young people, mostly qualified engineers, are working tirelessly on objects full of chips and cables, which will be transformed into microsatellites, nanosatellites, picosatellites. Some of them work there in the afternoons after their morning work or have taken temporary leave without pay. Others quit their morning jobs, even at giant companies like Mozilla and Nokia, so they could devote time to what they do there. It may sound difficult and tiring, but their passion for Space and the production of technology open to all motivates them, while organizations and institutions believe in them: the team’s projects reach Space with funding from European programs (such as Horizon 2020 ), foundations (such as the New York-based Sloan Foundation, founded in 1934 by then-General Motors CEO Alfred P. Sloan Jr.), and private businesses.

How did it all begin? When in January 2015 nine people founded the non-profit organization “Libre Space Foundation” (LSF) in Greece, with the aim of creating open software and design space technology, they probably could not have imagined that, less than a decade later, objects they make in their laboratory they would travel into Space. The organization has already designed, built and launched three microsatellites – “UPSat”, in collaboration with the University of Patras and “Qubik” 3 & 4 – and is soon to send “up there” as many more. In addition, it has repeatedly collaborated with the European Space Agency (ESA), has developed the world’s largest satellite data reception network and is preparing to place its technology on the top floor of “Ariane 6”, Europe’s newest rocket – and indeed in its first flight, in late 2023 or early 2024.

LSF, which employs 15 people and has hundreds of volunteer collaborators, has recently taken on a new ESA project, ‘PHASMA’, with a €2m contract, which will launch the ‘Phasma’ 1, 2 and 3 nanosatellites into space , in order to conduct a series of experiments on in the electromagnetic spectrum, as the vice-president of the LSF, Eleftherios Kosmas, explains to APE-MPE. Experiments aimed at facilitating both space travel (since they will probably provide information on how to make spacecraft navigation to the Moon more accurate), and -mainly- everyday life “down here” (since their findings will probably they use to improve the operation of radio and television signals, detecting interference and violations, but also to record how the ionosphere interacts with Space and how phenomena such as the Northern Lights can affect the different frequencies, “crashing” GPS systems for example) .

“Even now there are times when I can’t believe that something of ours is traveling in space”

“In January 2015, when we started volunteering to work on the LSF idea, we couldn’t imagine where it would take us in the medium term. We struggled seriously and faced enormous difficulties. I think LSF has reached the point of claiming and taking on ESA or Horizon projects, thanks to the hard work, diligence, methodicality and exceptional quality of our engineers. We have a lot of passion, but also an obsession with open software, which can be seen in the organization’s manifesto, where it is stated – as in the Outer Space Treaty, under the auspices of the United Nations – that Space should be open to everyone and everything, what happens up there is for the benefit of humanity as a whole. There are times when I still can’t believe that something we’ve created is up there. In October 2022, when the “Picobus” system was launched from Vanderburgh Air Force Base in California, I remember holding my daughter, then a few months old, and holding her little hand up, pointing at the live link at the rocket and shouting with an enthusiastic “go!”. Such moments are priceless” says Lefteris Kosmas.

To date, the LSF people have taken over or implement 12 projects, including the following: SatNOGS (the world’s largest network of ground satellite stations, with over 400 stations in more than 50 countries, which has cost significantly less than multi-budget closed-loop efforts, giving anyone who wants – either amateur or university- plans and instructions for antenna systems and creation of satellite ground stations), SIDLOC (the system for identifying and locating satellites and other space objects, planned to be placed on the final stage of the Ariane 6 rocket, an ESA project), SatNOGS-COMMS (advanced communication and signal analysis subsystem for ‘CubeSat’ class satellites, 10 by 10 cm, ESA project), Cronos (provided support for the design and development of the student experimental rocket ‘Cronos’) and PICOBUS ( orbital release system, with capacity for up to eight ‘PocketQube’ class very small satellites, measuring 5x5x5 cm, launched into orbit in October 2022).

“Experiments under Phasma will analyze with the help of Artificial Intelligence the spectrum of terrestrial radio frequency emissions. The purpose is to calculate and quantify spectrum usage worldwide, identify sources of interference and detect violations of broadcast signals. Also, with these experiments, signal emissions from other satellites will be monitored and analyzed, thus contributing to the easier identification of a satellite and its rapid location. These technologies are particularly important, as both the immediate identification of a satellite, its early detection, and its continuous monitoring contribute decisively to the success of a mission in Space,” explained Pierros Papadeas, CEO of LSF.

Furthermore, the three satellites they will be used to study the dispersion and propagation of signals in the ionosphere and to analyze navigation systems such as GPS, the European Gallileo, the Chinese BaiDu and the Russian GLONASS. With this project, the LSF aims “not only to strengthen and expand the possibilities of open software, but also to give Greece a key role in technological developments, contributing to the creation of a sustainable and strong space ecosystem in the country”, emphasized Manthos Papamatathiou , president of the LSF.