In an era where sustainable access to space is more critical than ever, the European Space Agency (ESA) Academy and the Fly Your Satellite! programme are not only leading efforts to clean up Earth’s orbit — they are also investing in the people who will carry that mission forward. To gain a deeper understanding of these efforts, watch the ESA’s short documentary film ‘Space Debris: Is it a Crisis?’, which explores the current situation in Earth’s orbits and explains the threat space debris poses to our future in space.
One powerful example is the recent vibration and thermal vacuum (TVAC) test campaign of a CubeSat drag sail, designed and developed by students of the FINIX-1, a CubeSat project Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece, under the framework of Fly Your Satellite! Test Opportunities initiative.
From 17 to 28 March, the team carried out a crucial test campaign at the CubeSat Support Facility in ESEC Redu, Belgium. Their goal was to qualify the Engineering Qualification Model (EQM) of their drag sail subsystem, a key component designed to support satellite deorbiting at the end of its mission. This testing phase marked an important step forward for the team, giving them valuable hands-on experience and bringing them closer to making their project a reality.