Skoltech (satellites)

2022: Satellite Launch

In August 2022, the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech) launched its own satellites Skoltech B1 and Skoltech B2, which will be used to conduct an experiment on inter-satellite communication.

Scientists plan to confirm the selected technical solutions, as well as demonstrate the possibility of communicating satellites with each other at a long distance without involving a person. In the event of a successful experiment, at the next stage, the mechanism of swarm interaction of four vehicles in orbit at the same time will be worked out.

CubeSat 3U + satellites were developed by engineers at the Skoltech System Design Center as part of the Space- π project supported by the Innovation Assistance Fund. The spacecraft are equipped with three types of payloads: equipment for inter-satellite communication, gamma detectors developed by the NIIAF of Moscow State University, as well as cameras for shooting.

The satellites were developed by the engineers of the Skoltech System Design Center as part of the Space- π project

The launch service was provided by Glavkosmos (a subsidiary of Roscosmos Group of Companies). In orbit, the satellites were separated using four launch containers developed and manufactured in Russia by Aerospace Capital.

The main goal of the Space- π project is to provide schoolchildren from different regions of Russia with the opportunity to conduct space experiments, form and create tasks for payloads of vehicles, develop service systems, receive, process and use information received in orbit for scientific and educational purposes. The project is being carried out with the active support of the Innovation Assistance Fund.

Satellites are a complex engineering system, their creation requires the hard and careful work of a well-coordinated team. This launch is particularly important because cubsats launch universities as research facilities. Now we have several goals: testing and testing the inter-satellite communication system, registering gamma-ray flares and collecting data about them, as well as attracting schoolchildren to space activities. In many ways, this is all done for the sake of the guys, "said Dmitry Ris, engineer of the Skoltech System Design Center.