The SSETI-express Mission: From Idea to Launch in One and a Half Year

In January 2004 a group of students met at the European Space Technology and Research Centre (ESTEC) in Holland to discuss the feasibility of building a micro-satellite, dubbed SSETI-Express, from parts derived from other student satellite projects and launch it within one and a half year. The project is an initiative under the ESA Education Department and the Student Space Exploration and Technology Initiative (SSETI)[3], an European student organisation. The satellite is currently scheduled for launch on the 30th of June 2005 atop a "Cosmos" launch vehicle from Plesetsk in Russia. This paper provides a description of the organisation behind the project and the mission of the satellite. Further it provides a technical overview of both the space segment and the ground segment together with key lessons learnt from the process of building a student satellite with widely distributed teams.