The University of Luxembourg hosted for the first time the European CubeSat Symposium which took place from 11 to 13 September 2019 on Belval Campus. More than 150 worldwide participants from academia and industry attended the event co-organised by the University of Luxembourg and the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics (VKI) with the support of the Luxembourg Space Agency (LSA).
The symposium took place in the frame of the development of CubeSat activities at the University of Luxembourg. LuxCube, launched in September 2018 by Stephan Leyer, Professor in mechanical engineering and Edder Jose Rabadan Santana, Postoctoral Researcher at the University of Luxembourg, the project provides students with hands-on satellite-build experience.
The event started with a welcome speech by Stéphane Pallage, Rector of the University of Luxembourg and Peter Grognard, Managing Director of the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics (VKI). Stéphane Pallage was very pleased to welcome the 11th edition of this symposium at the University of Luxembourg, which coincides with the launch of the Interdisciplinary Space Master (ISM) in September 2019. Peter Grognard presented the institute as an international educational and scientific organisation for space projects and underlined the importance of CubeSat in today’s new space. They both thanked all the participants, organisers and sponsors.
Then, Marc Serres, Chief Executive Officer at the Luxembourg Space Agency (LSA) saluted the initiative which is perfectly in line with the development of space activities at national level. Indeed, since 2016, the government of Luxembourg has taken a number of initiatives – encompassing regulation, tax, research and development regimes – to create a vibrant ecosystem in Luxembourg for space companies extending from innovative satellite operators to those focused on extracting resources from asteroids.
During the three days, participants had the opportunity to learn from internationally renowned speakers, namely, Peter Platzer, CEO Spire, Cynthia Wilson, SSA Sharing Coordinator and Roger Walker, Technology CubeSat Manager at the European Space Agency.
In addition, several technical sessions enabled participants to exchange about different topics such as propulsion subsystems, CubeSat constellations, scientific missions, lessons learned, future technologies and so on. Some researchers also presented their work via poster sessions.
This event was enriched by technical visits to SES and ArcelorMittal, a Luxembourg city tour, and a gala dinner at the Neimenster Abbey.
The 12th edition will take place at the Ecole Polytechnique in France.