Its mission is to take photographs of Earth at an altitude of 510km or from a low Earth orbit.
There are several circuit boards in the satellite that will manage power, control the camera and stay in touch with mission control back on Earth.
The images sent will be compressed due to a limited bandwidth.
Constructing the satellite started by laying out all the circuit boards, and connecting them to one another. They are then stacked inside the chassis, or the main body of the satellite.
Two versions have been made – an engineering model and a duplicate called the flight model, which will be sent to space.
After assembly and testing, the nanosatellite will be loaded into a large container, which can hold up to 16 satellites.
Once the nanosatellite is deployed in space, comes the all important moment – the Singapore team will attempt to connect with the satellite for the first time.
If successful, they will be able to view the image of Earth from their computer screens.
SPACE INDUSTRY
The team’s teacher-in-charge Andre Jusuf said such projects help build the students’ passion for emerging fields.
“We want to inspire our students to be passionate in engineering as well as satellite-related technology, and also to shape the future of education in mathematics and science,” he said.
Mr Ng Zhen Ning, founder and CEO of local aerospace company NuSpace, is the team’s mentor.
He said nurturing students is important for Singapore’s aspirations for a space industry amid a growing demand for space engineers.
“We should be engaging and inspiring the next generation of leaders to be able to pursue a career in STEM. If we don’t do such things, we will have manpower shortage problems in the future,” said Mr Ng, referring to science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
“Hopefully, when they graduate, they will join the space industry here in Singapore.”
For the team at NUS High School, the compact satellite is just a small step.
They are hoping to take a giant leap on a more ambitious goal to build another satellite that is three times bigger in the future.
