Universidad del Valle de Guatemala
Go Guatemala!. Team ready for the launch. Credit: Ivan Castro
"Having this cubeSat in orbit changes everything. 5-6 years ago, this was for us a project without much credibility. Now the question we get is when are we going to deploy another satellite. The project caused a change in attitude among the university students, they do not see these ideas anymore as something illusory or unrealistic as they did before, but rather as something possible." "The same thing is happening on a wider scale in Guatemala"
Victor Hugo Ayerdi, co- project coordinator from Universidad del Valle de Guatemala.
"Without any doubt, without KiboCUBE, we would not have been able to put our first satellite in orbit in 2020. We are thankful to UNOOSA, JAXA, and all of the people and institutions who believed in this young group of trailblazers."
Luis Zea, co- project coordinator from Universidad del Valle de Guatemala
AWARDS
KiboCUBE
The first satellite of Guatemala, Quetzal-1 has been deployed from the International Space Station on 29 April 2020 (click here to watch the deployment from JAXA YouTube) thanks to KiboCUBE. The initial goal of the team from Universidad del Valle de Guatemala was to design, develop, and operate a CubeSat-class satellite to test a multispectral sensor prototype, opening the field of space science & technology in Guatemala, developing the country's human capital, and enabling the independent acquisition of multispectral remote sensing data for natural resource management. Quetzal-1 was deployed in orbit on 28 April 2020.
News
- Guatemalan team launches nation's 1st CubeSat wins Interplanetary Initiative prize (6 June 2022)
- Celebrating one year launch anniversary (5 March 2021)
- Quetzal-1 mission ends (26 January 2021)
- Quetzal-1 team nominated "Personaje del año" by Prensa Libre (29 December 2020)
- See Quetzal-1 orbit decay (12 November 2020)
- Quetzal-1 measures the magnetic field of the Earth (16 October 2020)
- Quetzal-1 gets the AIAA People's Choice award 2020 (6 August 2020)
- Software for data visualization and decoding Quetzal-1 telemetry (April 2020)
Activities
- Presented in UNOOSA Access to Space for All Expert Meeting ( pdf & video 21:00-31:04) (17 May 2023)
- Quetzal-1 co-project coordinator Victor Hugo Ayerdi participates in UNOOSA webinar during World Space Week
Publications
- Alvarez, D., Ayerdi, V., Bagur, J., Martínez, M., Miranda, E., Zea, L. Esperanza desde el cielo, la historia del primer satélite guatemalteco , Editorial Universitaria UVG, 2021
- Miranda, E., Kuk, C., Ayerdi, V., Zea, L. (2020). Quetzal-1 CubeSat's Command and Data Handling - Design and Development Considerations. 4th IAA Latin American CubeSat Workshop (LACW) Virtual Conference, Aug 3 - 6, 2020.
- Martínez, M., González, D., Rodríguez, D., Birnie, J., Bagur, J.A., Paz, R., Miranda, E., Solórzano, F., Esquit, C., Gallegos, J., Álvarez, E., Ayerdi, V.H., Zea, L. (2018). Guatemala's Remote Sensing CubeSat - Tools and Approaches to Increase the Probability of Mission Success, 32nd Annual AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites, Logan, Utah, August 4-10, 2018.
- Ayerdi, V. (2018). Introducing Space Technology and Aerospace Engineering in Guatemala. United Nations Expert Meeting on Human Space Technology. Vienna, December 4-6, 2018.
- Zea, L., Chaves, A., Ayerdi, V., Carvajal, J. (2018). A Multinational CubeSat for Forest Monitoring, UNOOSA / Brazil Symposium on Basic Space Technology. Natal, September 11-14, 2018.
- Gómez, M., García, B., Chaves, A., García, D., Carvajal-Godínez,J., Lara,J., Zea, L. (2017). Mechanism of Cooperation for the Development of a Central American Space Project- A Regional CubeSat, 30th IAA Symposium on Space Policy, Regulations and Economics. UNOOSA, September 26, 2017.
- Zea, L., Ayerdi, V., Argueta. S., Muñoz, A. A Methodology for CubeSat Mission Selection" , Journal of Small Satellites, Vol. 5, No. 3 October 2016
- Molina, J.C., Ayerdi, V., Zea, L. (2016). Attitude Control Model for CubeSats, 2nd Latin American CubeSat Workshop, Florianopolis, Brasil, Febrero 28 - Marzo 2, 2016.
- Zea, L., Microbiological Experiments Onboard CubeSats A Review and Prospects, IAA-BR-14-13-03, 1st Latin American IAA CubeSat Workshop, Brasilia, Brasil, Diciembre 8-11, 2014
- Miranda, E., Flores, J., Molina, J.C., Perez, J., Ayerdi, V., Zea, L., Design and Development of Guatemala's first CubeSat, IAA-BR-14-05-06, 1st Latin American IAA CubeSat Workshop, Brasilia, Brasil, Diciembre 8-11, 2014
- Zea, L., Ayerdi, V., Argueta, S., Muñoz, A., CubeSat Applications and their Potential Benefits, IAA-BR-14-03-02, 1st Latin American IAA CubeSat Workshop, Brasilia, Brasil, Diciembre 8-11, 2014
Photos
Quetzal-1 mission patch was designed in a "design-a-thon" in October 2018.
Written by Quetzal-1 team members, this book tells the anecdotes, challenges and experiences of the Quetzal-1 project.