UnB launches a satellite that allows communication in areas where there is no telephone signal in the country | Federal District

• Technique: The satellite created by UnB students arrives at the international station
• Video: A resident of the defender records a meteorite that fell in Minas Gerais

The equipment called nano Alpha Crux – a reference to a star in the Cruzeiro do Sul constellation – is a kind of cube. It measures 10 cm, weighs 1 kg and is solar powered.

UNB Professor of Electrical Engineering Renato Alves Borges, who is coordinating the research, explains that The device will be at an altitude of 500 km above the Earth’s surface for about two years. The data is monitored by UnB students and professors at least four times a day.

“It has an operating mode that turns it into a digital repeater, similar to a cell tower, so it will pick up the signal that is being sent and will reflect that signal on the ground. The towers, the satellite communications solve this problem” explains Renato.

The satellite can also be used for agriculture, such as collecting data on soil and climate in remote areas. To create the satellite, Fundação de Apoio à Pesquisa do Distrito Federal (FAPDF) invested R$ 2.2 million.

“We have an opportunity to invest in this project and now reap the fruits through this launch. And the university itself naturally engages these students, this academic community and encourages these young people to produce high value-added science for the future of the country,” advocates FAPDF President, Marco Antonio da Costa.

The Brazilian Space Agency’s satellite and applications coordinator, Adriana Correa, is directing other universities to try the same to motivate other students.

Adriana encourages “for the student to really get a chance to do a project and warm their hands, not just to be there in theory, but to be closer to this area of ​​space.”

For UnB master’s student in Electrical Engineering, Yasmine Ferreira, the satellite developed at UnB is a source of pride.

“It’s a reality, that thing we see in the movie. NASA [Administração Nacional da Aeronáutica e Espaço] A rocket launch, and then everybody’s there in front of the screens and all of a sudden, we’re here, you know? Alpha Cruise will pass by here and we will be in front of the screens watching everything that happens, that’s exactly what it is! Yasmin says.

In August 2015, a nano-satellite also created by students at the University of Brasilia was launched into space aboard a Japanese rocket.

• The satellite created by UnB students arrives at the international station

The device mainly collects data on the Brazilian environment. The equipment was sponsored by the Brazilian Space Agency, and the project cost about 3 million Brazilian reals.