UAE: Student-Built DhabiSat Reaches Orbit

Khalifa University of Science and Technology and Al Yah Satellite Communications Company (Yahsat) jointly announced on Tuesday the deployment of "DhabiSat" into orbit from Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus resupply spacecraft.

DhabiSat is the second CubeSat designed and built by Khalifa University students

The primary mission of DhabiSat is to enable students to design, implement and test software modules for Attitude Determination and Control Subsystems (ADCS).

DhabiSat will assess the accuracy of various ADCS pointing control strategies and validate the same by taking images using a digital camera onboard pointed in specific directions.

.@KhalifaUni and Al Yah Satellite Communications Company have successfully launched the third CubeSat satellite designed by students at KU into orbit, marking a major milestone for the university and the UAE. pic.twitter.com/dWKLQDroLh

— مكتب أبوظبي الإعلامي (@admediaoffice) July 13, 2021

Earlier, MySat-1, the first CubeSat developed by students of Khalifa University, was deployed from the NG-10 Cygnus spacecraft in February 2019.

The educational and communication CubeSat sent images from space that were received by the satellite ground station at Khalifa University. In addition, a new Lithium-Ion battery, manufactured at Khalifa University’s Masdar Institute laboratories, was also tested in space.

The work was conducted at the Yahsat Space Lab, which is part of the Khalifa University Space Technology and Innovation Centre (KUSTIC).