UCD team to launch Ireland’s first satellite

Ireland looks to launch their first-ever satellite this evening, with a team of University College Dublin scientists hoping their project makes it to orbit.

EIRSAT-1 was designed by engineers, space industry experts, academics, and students from University College Dublin, and tonight’s launch is the culmination of 6 years’ worth of research.

EIRSAT-1 is the size of a shoebox, and will be part of a larger payload.

Dr David McKeown Assistant Professor/Lecturer in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at UCD told The Journal “there’s both nerves and excitement pre-launch; I’m really happy with where we are, we have tested our satellite as much as we can and I think it’s ready to go.”

Among the payload is a gamma ray burst detector, which detects bursts coming from the deaths of massive stars billions of light years away.

The satellite will hitch a ride to space on a Space X Falcon 9 Rocket which will lift off from Vandenbeg Air Force Base in California.

The project is part of the “Fly Your Satellite!” scheme, which is run by the European Space Agency.

Ireland joined the European Space Agency in 1980, but as of yet has not seen a satellite or astronaut fly into space.

The launch will take place around 6pm Irish time.

Professor Orla Feely, the President of UCD said she was “proud” of what has been achieved.

“The notion that a satellite that was imagined and designed and built in Belfield, where we worked with school children to compose a poem in celebration of the voyage that is etched on the side of the satellite. It’s a wonderful, inspirational story and we are so proud of it,” she told RTÉ.