AAU Cubesat

The AAU-cubesat project started in September 2001 and has had the goal to let students build and launch a nano-satellite with the purpose to provide for "hands-on" education and gain experience with nano-satellite technology. The satellite was launched on the 30th of June 2003 from Plesetsk in Russia on top of the Rockot Launcher.

Following launch the satellite was alive for two and a half months before the battery had lost too much capacity to continue operations. During this time only a limited amount of data was successfully downlinked from the satellite due to an undisclosed problem on the satellite transmitter resulting in very weak signals being transmitted.
However, as a first step into pico-satellite technology and student built satellites the projects is considered a success and will be followed up by a new student satellite, currently under definition, which will have the benefit of all the experience gained with the AAU-cubesat