COMPASS-1 hands-on experience for the space engineers of tomorrow

This paper describes the conceptual study of COMPASS-1: A project for the development of a pico satellite in accordance with the CubeSat concept, that provides on going space engineers with essential hands-on experience. COMPASS-1 has mainly educational objectives. This project makes it possible for students to participate at a real satellite project and therefore provide an ideal oppurtunity for training them in different disciplines. The scientific/research objectives are to develop a CubeSat (pico satellite) platform suitable for various scientific and nonscientific missions and to perform an earth observation mission, using a camera as payload. We also want to use new technologies and methods, in particular microtechnology and nanotechnology to demonstrate its use in space and to keep the costs at a low level.