Following on from the successful “Vega Maiden Flight CubeSat Workshop” held at ESA/ESTEC in January 2008, which was the first CubeSat workshop to be held at European-level, the ESA Education Office is pleased to announce the Second European CubeSat Workshop one year later as planned.

Since the first workshop, the ESA Education Office in the Directorate of Legal Affairs & External Relations in conjunction with the Directorate of Launchers has selected nine CubeSats (plus two backups) from European universities for launch on the maiden flight of the Vega launcher, now scheduled for November 2009. The nine CubeSats will be deployed from three different deployment systems mounted on the support structure of the main payload, LARES (LAser RElativity Satellite), into an orbit of 350 km by 1450 km at an inclination of 71 degrees. The launch opportunity is offered by ESA to the selected CubeSats free of charge, and recognises the growing importance of the CubeSat as a powerful hands-on space education tool. It is intended as a first step to boost student hands-on development of CubeSats in Europe, thus providing a suitable and qualified space workforce for the future in complement with other education project activities.

The main aims of the Second European CubeSat Workshop are to:

• report upon on the development status of the CubeSats selected for the Vega maiden flight
• outline ESA’s long-term strategy for supporting CubeSats, including plans for cooperation/coordination and the prospects of future flight opportunities, for instance on the first and subsequent VERTA flights of the Vega launcher
• to facilitate information and data exchange between CubeSat teams, ESA and commercial suppliers on lessons learned, best practices, mission applications, technologies and instrumentation, cooperative space/ground networks, and future mission plans/concepts