In about a month, Romania will have a satellite in orbit! It will be launched by a Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Space Center in Florida, along with dozens of other small satellites from several countries, each with a separate mission. It will be the second Romanian satellite after the launch of Goliat in 2012.

What is really remarkable is that the new Romanian satellite, called ROM-2, was created by a team of students from the Bucharest International Theoretical Higher School of Informatics: Rares Belescu, Philip Buscu, George Cirila, David Constantinescu, Eliza Constantinescu, Vlad Ercanu, Oleksandr Lukyanov, Volodymyr Nekula and Andra Palada.

Philippe Buscu was kind enough to answer a few questions and tell us more about the satellite created by the team he’s part of.

HN: How did some high school students get the satellite ready for launch? Who came up with the idea and how long did it take from the idea to the satellite climbing aboard the Falcon 9 rocket?

FB: I’ve been building and flying RC airplanes since I was a kid. I have a passion for airplanes and have always enjoyed improving them, exploring new fuselage shapes and powerplant formulas, improving aerodynamics and flight times. The idea of ​​launching a satellite arose from my desire to reach higher, into space. When I started documenting myself, I found out that Romania is the only European country that doesn’t have a satellite in space, and I told myself that things shouldn’t stay that way.

We gathered a team of students passionate about science and got to work. First, we created a cylindrical satellite and named it ROM-1 (Romanian Orbital Mission-1). This is a tubesat (a cylinder about the size of a soda can) that was supposed to fly in 2021 on an Ariane 5 rocket, but we didn’t manage to raise the necessary funds in time. I lost this opportunity, but I learned a lot from the aerospace engineers of NASA and the American company Interorbital.

They helped us, guided us, and explained the difficult part of managing such a project. Then we started looking for other flight options, this time for a smaller satellite, a pocketqube (cubic picosatellite, 5x5x5 cm in size and weighing about 250 grams). I talked about the ROM-2 mission and the Space Sparrow satellite. Its construction began in January 2022, and will be launched this year, in June. From the idea (2019) to the flight (2023) is almost four years.

HN: What obstacles did you face during this adventure? What was the interaction with the government like, and what would you simplify if you could?

FB: Registration of satellites with the relevant authorities is probably the longest and most tedious bureaucratic procedure in any mission related to the launch of a satellite. Broadcasting permits for the ROM-2 satellite were obtained in Spain with the help of the AMSAT EA association. In Romania, there are no clear laws and regulations for satellites, everything was confusing here, and we were afraid of losing time to delays. For the next missions we will contact the Romanian authorities, of course, but we didn’t want to risk anything during the first launch. Unfortunately, these processes cannot be simplified, as all states must be notified of the existence of any civilian satellite.

KhN: The satellite will be launched into a heliosynchronous orbit. What will it do in orbit and how can we interact with it from the ground?

FB: ROM-2 will fly in a heliosynchronous orbit at an altitude of approximately 600 km. The satellite is equipped with a 2-megapixel camera, which will be used to observe the Earth, and operates in the amateur radio band, transmitting data on a frequency of 436.235 MHz. Anyone can get this data with a Yagi antenna, a signal amplifier and an SDR module. More information on how to get it can be found on our website www.rom-space.ro

HN: Because a lot of people are wondering what parts were purchased from the market and what was your contribution to the creation of the satellite?

FB: On ROM-2 we collaborated with engineers, physicists and aerospace companies from around the world, as with most satellites launched by faculties or start-ups. The satellite was developed by us under the guidance of engineers from Spain, Nepal, USA, Great Britain and Switzerland. Lacking the necessary infrastructure and know-how to efficiently build all the components, we also used parts already proven for spaceflight, integrating them into our mission (solar panels, camera, battery). ROM-2 was completely assembled in our laboratory, where it was also programmed and tested.

HN: When will the launch take place and where can we follow news about this launch or post-launch activities or technical details about tracking and interacting with the satellite?

FB: The SpaceX Transporter 8 mission is scheduled to launch in early June from Vandenberg Space Center. This is the 8th rideshare launch, with dozens of micro, nano and pico satellites simultaneously launched, each with different missions. The launch will be broadcast on the SpaceX YouTube channel. We will add a ROM-2 tracking guide to our website closer to the launch date.

HN: What is the estimated lifetime of the satellite in orbit? How maneuverable is it in space? Are there plans to de-orbit after the goals are met?

FB: Our picosatellite benefits from a passive alignment system with Earth’s magnetic field that will always keep the camera on the surface of our planet. ROM-2 will naturally de-orbit after a few years, will completely disintegrate in the atmosphere, and will not benefit from special de-orbit systems. Now we are very happy that the battery maintains the correct parameters until the moment of going into orbit. If all goes well, ROM-2 will last about 2 years.

HN: What’s next after ROM-2?

FB: First of all, ROM-2 is a demonstration that a team of high school students can build and launch a satellite in record time – about a year and a half. This is proof that it is possible. But at the same time, it is also a test of what will come. We are already working on a more advanced project called ROM-3, which will be launched into space this October. It is larger than its predecessor and has more advanced instruments for observing the Earth’s surface. These first missions, ROM-2 and ROM-3, test systems that will be included in our future Skyline satellite constellation, the first satellite of which is scheduled to launch in the third quarter of 2024.

HN: How much does such a satellite cost and where did you find the necessary resources?

FB: Pocketcube today can cost from several tens of thousands of euros to several hundreds of thousands, depending on the devices on board. It’s equipment you can’t build yourself, as I said. Special cameras adapted for orbit are produced by three or four specialized international manufacturers. High-efficiency solar panels require advanced technologies beyond the reach of an ordinary laboratory. Batteries come from manufacturers that specialize in room temperature operation and must be purchased directly from them.

Instead, we made the electronics, the software, the programming, the mechanical part, the structure, the opening mechanisms. It’s amazing how much can be done here in the country. A significant part of the budget, sometimes the largest, is the cost of the flight. Then there are external trips. The satellite must be delivered to testing and certification laboratories, it must be transported to countries where integration is carried out on a launch vehicle. Sometimes you do a run to charge it’s battery if the launch time is long and if you manage to get through the red tape of SpaceX.

ROM-2 was funded by several Romanian companies and foundations. The fifth part of the budget was covered by the Romanian government.

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