OPS-SAT
The European Space Agency mission
Flying laboratory for testing new technologies in space
Creotech’s role: software for the satellite’s communications module
Mission completed: nearly five years in orbit (2019–2024)
The space industry is constantly in need of new solutions, but satellites and their launch into orbit are too costly to risk testing unproven technologies on them. OPS-SAT was created to solve this problem. This small satellite, weighing around 6 kg, served as an orbital laboratory where companies, universities and institutions could test their ideas under real space conditions.
On board was the most powerful and flexible on-board computer in the history of ESA missions. The satellite was designed so that the failure of one experiment would not affect subsequent ones, and over 100 companies from 17 countries expressed an interest in participating. OPS-SAT was launched in December 2019 from French Guiana and operated for almost five years. The mission ended in May 2024, when the satellite burned up in the atmosphere.
Creotech Instruments, as a subcontractor to Graz University of Technology and in collaboration with the Space Research Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences and GMV Polska, was responsible for the software of the communications module on board the satellite. This is one of the key elements of any mission: it ensures reliable communication with Earth and direct access to the satellite’s individual systems. The experience gained on the OPS-SAT project has led to further orders for similar solutions.