Ireland's first-ever satellite will blast into space later this month

Ireland's space engineering industry will see one of their own satellites launched into space for the first time this year.

Eirsat-1 will blast off from a location in California on November 29th. The satellite has now left Irish shores for the last time as preparations begin ahead of the planned launch.

The spacecraft will carry out three experiments while in orbit, before being returned to University College Dublin (UCD) to study the data collected.

A miniature cube satellite, or cubesat, Eirsat-1 was first proposed in 2017, as part of the European Space Agency's "Fly Your Satellite" initiative, which helps students come up with their own spacecrafts.

The satellite's development at UCD has seen the introduction of space systems engineering and skills that did not previously exist in Irish industry or academia.

Prof Lorraine Hanlon, director of Eirsat-1 and the UCD Centre for Space Research, said: “Ireland has never had a satellite before and we are tremendously excited to reach this delivery milestone which is a tribute to the hard work of the team, and the support of the university, the Irish government and Irish industry.”

Dr Ronan Wall, manager of the Centre for Space Research, said: “This departure of the satellite from Irish shores for the last time on the first step of its journey to orbit is a big moment for the team. Eirsat-1 has had thousands of hours of work poured into it and we are ready to launch and operate the spacecraft for the benefit of science, training, and education in Ireland”.