UB participates in the new Centre for Satellite Applications and Technologies created in Barcelona
The main objective of the new Centre for Satellite Applications and Technologies (CenSAT) is to strengthen Barcelonaʼs leadership in the field of smart cities by profiting space missionsʼ potentialities to produce and develop technological and scientific knowledge in order to improve public servicesʼ effectiveness. It is a new centre of analysis, technological design and development of microsatellite scientific and commercial applications, promoted by the Barcelona City Council and supported by the University of Barcelona (UB), the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), the University of Florida and the Cartographic and Geologic Institute of Catalonia.
The main objective of the new Centre for Satellite Applications and Technologies (CenSAT) is to strengthen Barcelonaʼs leadership in the field of smart cities by profiting space missionsʼ potentialities to produce and develop technological and scientific knowledge in order to improve public servicesʼ effectiveness. It is a new centre of analysis, technological design and development of microsatellite scientific and commercial applications, promoted by the Barcelona City Council and supported by the University of Barcelona (UB), the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), the University of Florida and the Cartographic and Geologic Institute of Catalonia.
On 18 June, the Saló de la Ciutat at Barcelona City Council hosted the signing of the agreement that set up a consortium to create the new Centre for Satellite Applications and Technologies within the Barcelona Knowledge Campus. The personalities who participated in the event were: the major of the city, Mr Xavier Trias; the rector of UB, Dr Dídac Ramírez; the vice-rector for Science Policy of UPC, Dr Fernando Orejas; the vice-president for Research of the University of Florida, Dr David Norton, and the adjunct manager of the Cartographic and Geologic Institute of Catalonia, Dr Antoni Roca.
Microsatellites: easier access to space
The agreement aims at joining public, private and academic initiatives in a single project in order to develop scientific and commercial applications using the Barcelona Urban Lab. The agreement is part of a previous one established between Florida and Spain in October 2011. It was signed by the former minister of Science and Innovation, Cristina Garmendia, and it aimed at strengthening global leadership in microsatellite production and use for scientific and commercial applications.
Micro and nano satellites weigh between 2 and 100 kilos. Their operation is cheaper and their orbital period is shorter than the ones of conventional satellites. Therefore, these elements will make easier for companies, administrations and research centres to access to space in order to develop scientific experiments and civil applications addressed to many economic sectors (environmental control and security, monitoring of urban and maritime areas, agricultural sector, etc.).
Barcelona, a smart city
CenSAT will be a micro and nano satellite tech research centre in which the private sector will collaborate. The centre will analyse and design missions. It will also explore data for commercial and scientific uses, particularly those generated by scientific projects developed in life sciences, Earth observation and astronomy.
The centre will also focus its research on those areas that have recently appeared and advance quickly like big data or the management of smart cities in order to improve public services and make them more efficient in fields such as microelectronics, efficient energy and environmental management.
According to Professor Eduard Salvador, former director of the Institute of Cosmos Sciences of UB (ICCUB) and promoter of the initiative, “the new centre will enable Barcelonaʼs small companies, which hold a good position in specialised areas but their ability to innovate is limited, to take profit of the services it will provide in order to advance further than they would be able to progress alone. Furthermore, the centre will not develop tools that can be provided by these local companies; on the contrary, it will be focused on developing the tools they lack.
“That will encourage —points out Eduard Salvador— people to get involved in this exciting adventure. Everyone will be favoured: universities, companies and the society. If everything goes as it is hoped, the centre will become a pillar in invigorating businesses, the aerospace industry and those companies centred on developing micro satellites in Barcelona and Catalonia, a strong sector that has just began to be developed (it has already appeared on the cover of The Economist) and will soon be developed around the world”. “We are talking about the democratization of the space for all types of civil and scientific uses”, highlights Salvador.
CenSAT: a great opportunity for UB
“Concerning scientific tasks —adds Garrido—, ICCUB will suggest and participate in projects related to microgravity and astrophysics. Now, we are studying the possibility to use these satellites to measure heavy ions from solar flares or to detect dark matter”. Thanks to this wide range of collaboration possibilities, the departments of the faculties of Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics which are part of ICCUB, as well as some services of these faculties, for instance the instrumentation service of the Faculty of Physics (SiUB), can collaborate in the project”.