NewSat,the next generation of Small Satellites
On December 7, NewSat project was officially launched. The kick-off remote meeting was hosted by Stratosphere S.A., Project’s Coordinator, with the contributions of the participating institutions: INESCTEC; INEGI; EFACEC; CLARKE & MODET and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
NewSat is one of the Flagships Projects of MIT Portugal and will develop a an compact integrated sensor and satellite for earth observation. NewSat will make possible to quantitatively characterize, in real-time, the composition of the ionosphere using state-of-the-art analytical instrumentation. This capability opens new avenues for science and commercial applications in both understanding and using of new data for analysis of atmosphere and near space “sub-systems”, as well as their interactions, e.g., helping understand how global warming is affecting the upper atmosphere.
The meeting starts with a brief presentation of the consortium that will involve people from very specific fields with complementary research competencies. Then each partner made an overview presentation of their activities and tasks.
In the beginning of January, the team will meet again to start working on Activity 1 which will allow the team to perform a fast review of the state of the art and of the technology in the project areas to make sure that there are no new developments or relevant IP that collides with the ideas originally proposed. Activity 1 will also define IP management guidelines that will enable, and propel, the joint work of the consortium. Additionally, it will look into the definition of the mission concept, which will result in a guideline document that feeds all of the work of NewSat as it describes the scientific mission for the resulting satellite. Overall, the outputs of this activity will organize IP management and prepare information required for the conceptual and trade-off studies that will follow.