Small satellites to change de world

With this project we will experience together the excitement and demands of space first hand. During two weeks full of new knowledge and practical activities, students will be able to design, build and launch replicas of satellites with technological and scientific missions. By analysing the data collected, they will learn about the opportunities offered by space research and the discoveries it has made possible.

The heads of the scientific team (and other experts invited for the occasion) will accompany you on this adventure, combining theoretical sessions, space anecdotes, explanations of practical cases? And, above all, we will convince you that with small satellites we will be able to make our planet a better place!

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

NewSpace has been a revolution in the space sector. After decades in which satellites were the property of large space agencies or large companies, the constant miniaturisation of technology has enabled the design of small satellites, which are cheaper and more agile in production. This has enabled many companies, including small and medium-sized ones, and research centres to design, manufacture and operate small satellites, opening up the range of applications, especially in the field of earth observation and communications. Catalonia has a rich space ecosystem made up of top-level universities and research centres, leading companies, start-ups and a government committed to the sector. In October 2020, the Government of Catalonia approved the NewSpace Strategy for Catalonia with the aim of boosting this innovation hub.

The strategy is deployed around six axes, including Talent and Society, which promotes activities aimed at attracting, generating and retaining talent with skills to develop solutions in the NewSpace field. This line is led by the Government of Catalonia and has the collaboration of the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC).

Within the framework of the Talent and Society axis of the NewSpace Strategy of Catalonia, the Government of Catalonia, the IEEC, the I2CAT Foundation and the GoSTEM association are organising this Youth and Science project to bring space closer to young people.

NewSpace: Small satellites to change the world' consists of creating an interdisciplinary project for students to design, build, verify and launch two analogous nanosatellite missions with different missions. Its aim is to teach, as rigorously as possible and with a learning-by-doing philosophy, the main phases that form the backbone of a real European Space Agency (ESA) space mission.

As a first end result, participants will build experiments with the capacity to acquire valuable information, which can be processed and analysed using research methodology, which is the second end result. Thus, students will experience first-hand a highly stimulating and ambitious engineering and research project that will allow them to collect data and obtain results by applying the scientific method.

This project is the central focus of the stay at MónNatura, with talks and small complementary activities on NewSpace and all its aspects: engineering, science, economy, society, communication, etc.