Mexican Students Send Their Satellite into Orbit

Feb. 20, 2020 (EIRNS)—AzTechSat-1 was deployed into orbit from the International Space Station yesterday, having been designed, built, and tested by students, led by the Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla. The students were mentored by engineers at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California. It was the first joint project of Mexican students and NASA engineers. AzTechSat-1 was one of a number of small cubesats brought up to the ISS on a cargo mission on Dec. 5, 2019. It will test a new communication technology that could greatly increase the capability of small satellites.

AzTechSat-1 will demonstrate satellite-to-satellite communications, being able to “talk” to constellations of large communication satellites in orbit, that provide telephone and data service, and are always in contact with ground stations. This would allow any data collected by a satellite, from an Earth remote sensing satellite, for example, to be relayed to Earth 24 hours a day, not just when the satellite is over the country’s ground receiving station. This will greatly increase the amount of data the increasing number of small satellites from developing countries can provide.