The first satellite made in the Republic of Moldova launched into outer space

The TUMnanoSAT nanosatellite, built by the Technical University of Moldova (UTM), was successfully launched into orbit by astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday. The event organized in a hybrid format was attended by Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilița, the rector of UTM, Viorel Bostan, diplomats, representatives of the Japanese Aerospace Agency (JAXA) and the United Nations Office for Space Affairs (UNOOSA).

The nanosatellite TUMnanoSAT is a cube with an edge of 10 cm and a mass of 1,150 kg. It will have educational and research missions.

The Technical University of Moldova, where the satellite was created, was selected for this program by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and the United Nations Space Office, reports IPN.

Viorel Bostan, rector of the Technical University of Moldova, mentioned that the idea of ​​creating a satellite appeared back in 2008, so that the Republic of Moldova could also explore outer space.

Teaching staff, students, masters and doctoral students from different faculties of UTM contributed to the creation of the nanosatellite. The average age of the team is under 30 years old. According to the rector of UTM, currently the team of experts from the Technical University is working on the creation of the second version of the nanosatellite.

During March and August 2021, the satellite built by UTM passed all the functional tests at the Romanian Institute of Space Sciences, according to JAXA and NASA rigors.

In March, it was transported to Japan, at JAXA, where it was included in the JSSOD launch capsule, and in April it was transported to NASA and included in Cargo Dragon-2. And on July 15, 2022, the satellite was launched into space, being transported to the International Space Station by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.