Emerging Slovak space technologies and satellites

The Slovak Organisation for Space Activities (SOSA) has been active in various types of space-related activities since its establishment in 2009. They include launching stratospheric balloons, the development of the first Slovak suborbital rocket ARDEA, a spaceflight simulator and many others. SOSA, together with the Žilina University in Žilina, the Slovak Technical University in Bratislava, the Technical University Kosice and a handful of private companies, have designed and created the first Slovak satellite skCUBE, which is due to be launched into space in 2017. The numerous unique technologies, which have been developed during the creation of skCUBE, are now being sold as products internationally. Recently, an effort to create a new space vision and strategy for Slovakia has been initiated by SOSA, together with several Slovak universities and international partners, including the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology and the ETH Zurich University. Their plan is to develop and launch a CubeSat fleet to detect gamma ray bursts from space. Part of this initiative is also the establishment of space incubators by SOSA across Slovakia to train and involve students directly space-related technologies.