Portugal will return to space 30 years after PoSat-1 with the second Portuguese satellite, Eros. The launch is scheduled for the first week of March using a Falcon 9 rocket from SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk, a controversial multimillionaire with triple citizenship of South Africa, Canada and North America.
Eros is classified as a nanosatellite and was developed in Portugal by several organizations, including Thales and CEiiA, as well as the universities of Técnico, Algarve, Minho and Porto, and North America’s MIT. It will rotate at an altitude of 510 km, and its mass of 4.5 kg will reach a speed of 7 km/sec; In other words, a body with a length of 30 cm and a wingspan of 50 cm would make one revolution around the Earth every 90 minutes.
Its mission is to study the oceans, and the images will be taken on the island of Santa Maria and processed in Matosinhos. Investments amount to 2.78 million euros (1.88 million from Feder, the rest from private companies).
PoSat 1, the first Portuguese satellite, was launched into space in September 1993 by Flight 59 of an Ariane 4 rocket. He stopped communicating in 2006 and is left to fend for himself.
Author: Sergio A. Vitorino
Source: CM Jornal
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