Eurocircuits have always had a proud tradition of supporting the next generation of engineers ‘pioneer and push the boundaries of development and innovation’.

You may remember our last years” BLOG where eight engineering students led by Dr Bill Crofts saw the conclusion of their 3 year project culminate in their CubeSat being launched on a European space agency rocket. As the CubeSat fell to earth its mission was to measure light frequencies from the outer atmosphere and transmit them back to the team before dropping back to earth.

This week I had the pleasure of being invited to the WUSAT 3 sponsors day where I was introduced to the project plans and ambitions for the next stage of Dr Crofts amazing team.

WUSAT 3 is a 4 year project which will involve designing a 3 tier CubeSat to be taken to the International space station and from there it will be Launched to orbit the earth transmitting its data back to the team.

This is not a simple project and competition to secure the chance to add a payload to the International Space station is fierce. Specification of materials, weight and objectives are critical and if all do not fall within these strict specifications, the project will never get off the ground.

This is the first year of the project and we were introduced to 2 of the project members (Stephen Betts – Electronics and software and Tom Harris – mechanical design) who provided an excellent presentation on the progress of the project so far and intended use of the WUSAT 3 CubeSat.

One of the hardest parts of any project is “WHY”.

Trying to identify a worthy cause which would justify the University of Warwicks request for space aboard the ISS. Eurocircuits prides itself on its environmental conscientiousness so the chosen ‘why’ was particularly significant as the team are designing a Satellite which will monitor the migration patterns of birds around the globe (I have obviously simplified this substantially).

The Team have made huge progress, discovering many obstacles in their path but with such a diverse set of skills and knowledge, they are constantly innovating and problem solving to ensure they meet their objectives and the rigid requirements demanded from space exploration.

The team must now handover to next year’s team to continue the next stages of implementation, testing trials and justification.

I was very impressed by the team’s progress to date and Eurocircuits looks forward to continuing to support them in their amazing work.

If you would like to know more about the project or participate in sponsoring the team then contact Dr Bill Crofts.