Mission Design for the CubeSat OUFTI-1

AbstractOUFTI-1 is the first satellite of the University of Liège, Belgium, and the firstnanosatellite ever made in Belgium. It is developed within the framework of along-term program called LEODIUM Project, whose goal is to provide handsonexperience to aerospace students in cooperation with the space industriesof the region of Liège. It is the first satellite ever equipped with a recentlydeveloped amateur radio digital-communication technology: the D-STAR protocol.This system represents both the satellite’s communication system andits payload. The mission target is in fact, on the one hand, to give a spacerepeater to the amateur radio community and, on the other hand, to test thisnew technology into space in order to use it on the future nanosatellites foreseenby the LEODIUM Project, satellites that will have different payloads. It will behopefully launched with the new European launcher Vega and placed in ellipticorbit around the earth.Keywords: OUFTI-1, CubeSat, LEODIUM, D-STAR, amateur radio.5