When in 2019 the teacher of the Applied Electronics subject at the School of Technical Education Number 5 of Mar del Plata proposed to his students to make a satellite, the challenge was accepted with timidity and even disbelief. Almost three years later, in January 2022 That satellite took shape and will be launched on a spaceX Falcon 9 rocket , from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, in Florida, United States. “First, the students didn't even raise their hands because it was a very big challenge. Until one, two, three, four were encouraged until they were the majority,” remembers teacher Alejandro Cordero , project leader and CEO of Innova Space , the company which was born so that the first picosatellite built in Argentina leaves the Mar del Plata classroom and becomes a professional development.
Satellites can be classified and named based on their size and weight; In this case it is a picosatellite that can be held in one hand since it has a dimension of 10 by 10 by 5 centimeters and a weight of 461 grams . After its launch scheduled for January 13 at 12:25, Argentine time, and if weather conditions allow, it will be in a polar orbit at about 400-500 kilometers high. For Cordero, small satellites have a series of advantages such as the possibility of producing a large number in a short time and with a low launch cost. "It's like land freight - he compares - if a package weighs one kilo it has one price and another 100 kilo package is more expensive. This is the same, in this case the transport is the rocket. This allows us to launch many more satellites with the same cost as that of a single conventional satellite.” The picosatellites work in a constellation to have a greater degree of communication coverage, which is why the MDQubeSAT1 San Martín will be the first in the Libertadores de América constellation . “ This year we are going to launch between 4 and 6, next year between 12 and 16 and in 2024 around 90 picosatellites,” says Cordero enthusiastically. The main application of these picosatellites is to communicate, provide Internet connection in isolated places and is designed to assist the productive sector with services .
"We are only going to market it in two years. Now, as is always done in this industry, we will do all the proofs of concept to make the system optimal," says the teacher, who is also an electronic technician, with a degree in Education, which is They add postgraduate degrees in Business and Technology. TO ACCOMPANY SAN MARTÍN INTO SPACE The launch of the first Argentine microsatellite MDQubeSAT1 Mission 1 San Martín can be followed together with its creators who will be in Tecnópolis with national government authorities, this Thursday, January 13, starting at 12 on the YouTube channel Innova Space - Satellite Technology. The satellite will be launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in the United States via the Falcon 9 rocket from the company SpaceX, founded by mega-millionaire Elon Musk. “This started as a dream, we never thought we were going to launch a satellite. But since I am also a business person, I began to understand that it was not just an idea, but that a business model could come about that could provide income,” explains the CEO of Innova Space.
The aspiration of the professor and the 12 students who worked daily on the design of a satellite not only attracted the attention of the Mar del Plata media, but also of the Neutron project accelerator, which made a first investment in 2019. That motivated that Cordero, together with two former students, Luca Uriarte and Iván Mellina , created the startup Innova Space. And in 2020 they obtained financing for 14,500,000 pesos from a Non-Refundable Contribution (ANR) from the Ministry of Productive Development of the Nation. "The investment in the project - Cordero details - was around 250 thousand dollars from the accelerator and another 150 thousand from the ANR, with that we had funds for the satellite, the launch and more than a year of work." Public institutions such as the National Atomic Energy Commission (CNEA) also participated in the project, which worked on the assembly of the picosatellite solar panels. In addition, in the facilities of the Environmental Studies Group (GEMA) of the University of La Plata exposed the team to vibration tests in order to determine their qualification for the launch, which they successfully passed.
Despite the proximity to the launch date, Cordero shows no signs of nervousness, nor is he worried about the moment when the satellite will be placed in low orbit and must deploy the antenna and solar panels that will provide it with energy. "I already assume that this is a success. It is historic, until now in the country it had not been possible to develop a satellite in nine months from scratch," he assures and adds that "now I am thinking about the next two launches that we are already paying for." "This is just beginning and it is going to be a very fast race. In less than seven months we will launch two more."
For the project leader, what was achieved was thanks to work and passion. To this dedication that the satellite has, there is added as a personal seal of each of Cordero's developments an image of the Malvinas Islands on the roof "to vindicate our heroes". The name of the constellation Liberators of America emerged “to express the freedom of being able to communicate and do everything we want; It has to do with the liberating spirit of everyone who thought in this great America,” says Cordero. It is also a way to remember his godfather, with whom he talked about the country's heroes. “My origins are very humble, my vacations were going by bicycle to my godfather's house, from one neighborhood to another, and staying in his library.That remains forever etched in our minds.
