Dr. Wu Shufan, Senior Engineer from ESA Visiting CSSAR
On August 16, 2011, an academic lecture delivered by Dr. Wu Shufan, senior engineer from ESA, aroused the audiences’ interest. The lecture could be roughly divided into three parts: the QB50 program which takes the major bunch of the time, the ESA space science overview and his work in ESTEC.
QB50 has the scientific objective to study in situ the temporal and spatial variations of a number of key constituents and parameters in the lower thermosphere (90-320 km) with a network of 50 double CubeSats, separated by a few hundred kilometres and carrying identical sensors. Space agencies are not pursuing a multi-spacecraft network for in-situ measurements in the lower thermosphere because the cost of a network of 50 satellites built to industrial standards would be extremely high and not justifiable in view of the limited orbital lifetime.
Dr. Wu emphasized the merits of the CubeSat such as low cost, effectiveness in terms of scientific objectives and the educational significance by involving many universities around the world.
In the Q & A session, the audience raised questions of interest to Dr. Wu, such as the relationship between ESA and industrial circle in the various stages from the scientific requirement to the mission requirement and further to the system requirement.
