Lecture 1 – 13 August 2026 – 18:00

OPS‑SAT‑1: Opening a Spacecraft to the Community for Experimentation

Speaker: Nuno Carvalho
Spacecraft Operations Engineer for ESA/ESOC, Telespazio, Darmstadt, Germany

Abstract: OPS-SAT-1 was a 3U CubeSat launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) on December 18, 2019, to provide a unique platform for testing and validating innovative space technologies, lowering the barriers for in-orbit experimentation, offering professionals, researchers, and students an unprecedented opportunity to trial cutting-edge concepts in a real-world environment. During the mission lifetime thousands of runs of 285 unique experiments across a wide range of topics, proposed by 134 teams, were executed. This lecture provides a brief overview of the challenges and design decisions involved in safely opening the platform to the community, the impact on the mission planning and scheduling, concept of operations and ground systems. Selected lessons learned are also highlighted to foster improvements for future missions.

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