Israeli Students Send Two Tiny Satellites Into Orbit Via SpaceX

Two miniature satellites developed by Israeli students from Ariel University were launched into space last week aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket

The nanosatellites, dubbed SATLLA-2A and SATTLA-2B, were built by students from the Department of Computer Science and the Faculty of Engineering at the K&CG (Kinematic & Computational Geometry) lab headed by Prof. Boaz Ben Moshe.

Both satellites contain possible conduct of several scientific experiments such as a star track system, an aircraft tracking system, preparation for a laser communication stabilization system, (Free Space Optical communication, or FSO), photography and image analysis, and several other experiments, the university said in a statement.

According to the announcement released on Monday, the two satellites are currently in orbit and hover at an altitude of about 540km. The first message of the SATLLA-2B satellite was received near its launch and 20 other transmissions have been received since then. The group has not received a message from the SATLLA-2A satellite which makes them assume there is a problem with its antenna opening mechanism.

This is not the first satellite developed by students at the KC&G lab and launched into space. The nanosatellite, SATLLA-1 was launched in October 2020 on the unmanned cargo shuttle Signus NG-14 en route to the International Space Station.

SpaceX is the American aerospace manufacturer, space transportation services, and communications corporation founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs to enable the colonization of Mars