Review of the 1st Cubesat Student Workshop

On 9 and 10 June 2016, the Paris Diderot University hosted the 1st Cubesat Student Workshop at the national level. Organized by the Paris Diderot Space Campus, the IGOSat project and the Labex UnivEarthS, this event brought together about one hundred people around the exciting topic of nanosatellites built by the students.

Students and staff presented the numerous projects under development: QB50, Picsat, Igosat, Eyesat, Circus, Nanomagsat, Ionoglov, Meteor, OGMS-SA, ISAE Cubesats and CSUG. They attended conferences on the tools or missions held by space experts and were able to compare their ideas with those of the CNES (National Center for Space Studies), the APC (Astroparticle and Cosmology) laboratory, IPGP (Institute of Physics of the Globe of Paris), EIDD (École d’Ingénieur Paris Diderot), and guests of the EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne).

The afternoon workshop sessions allowed open discussions so that students could ask all their questions on technical subjects related to the projects: telecommunications, instrumentation, SCAO, flight software … These exchange times were particularly interesting, because they have raised the technical problems that often arise in the different projects. A convivial evening organized on Thursday extended informally the discussions initiated during the day and established links between the participants.

The first feedbacks on the workshop were very positive and show that the Cubesat students cause a great interest, on which exchanges are essential to progress. The students believe that this is a great opportunity for them to participate in these projects, because they have a concrete and rewarding experience, to be valued later when looking for a job. These two days of exchange have allowed them to clarify  technical points,  discover new horizons, and will help to make the best possible progress of student nanosatellites projects.