APTAS (Atmospheric Polar Transmission Alignment Satellite)

Educational mission with antenna calibration and camera payloads.

Design, build, test and operate a student CubeSat for scientific and educational purposes whilst paving the way for future generations of students who want to develop their own CubeSats.

• EISCAT-payload: An antenna to be used for calibration of the planned EISCAT 3D research project, a new phased-array antenna system located in northern Sweden, Norway and Finland.
• IRF-payload: A nadir pointing camera taking photos of auroras while flying over the poles that will contribute the aurora research at The Swedish Institute of Space Physics.

EISCAT, European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association, is a scientific association that operates several radio telescopes in Sweden, Norway and Finland. Their new project, EISCAT 3D, is a new way of observing the atmosphere over big volumes. Their EISCAT 3D will be ready for operation by 2021. The EISCAT instrument on the satellite shall consist of a transmitter designed to provide a reliable calibration signal for the ground based antennas.