3U Cubesat is being inserted into a P-POD (black, metal box). The photo shows the Organism/Organic Exposure to Orbital Stresses satellite, which was launched into orbit a year ago. Photo: NASA.
In recent days, the PW-Sat has been transported from ESTEC (Netherlands) to Toulouse (France), where the final integration of all satellites will take place. Yesterday the official measurement of the satellites were performed. PW-Sat dimensions fulfilled the ESA requirements perfectly, thus placing the satellite in the P-POD should be nothing more than just a formality.
Design and construction of satellites so that the dimensions correspond to the expectations is not a trivial task, as it may seem at a first glance. During yesterday’s measurements it turned out that one of the cubesat teams has built a satellite which is… slightly to big – now it does not fit a P-POD. This unfortunately eliminated the satellite from participating in the mission.
The final list of satellites to be flown aboard Vega will be announced soon.
