On 30 June 2007, Delft University of Technology’s nanosatellite Delfi-C3 will be launched from the Indian launch site Sriharikota onboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). Last week, the Launch Service Agreement was signed between University of Toronto’s Space Flight Laboratory, functioning as a launch broker, and the Antrix Cooperation, responsible for the commercial launch activities with the launch vehicles of the Indian Space and Research Organization (ISRO). Delfi-C3, the fourth Dutch satellite in history, will be launched as a secondary payload to a Sun synchronous orbit, with an altitude of 630 kilometers and an inclination of about 98 degrees.

The satellite will operate in its scientific mode for about three months, performing multiple experiments, like the in-orbit test of a new type of Thin Film Solar Cells from Dutch Space and a flight demonstration of an autonomous wireless Sun sensor for the Dutch research institute TNO. After those three months, the satellite will be switched by ground command to a transponder mode, allowing Radio Amateurs worldwide to communicate with each other through Delfi-C3.

The satellite is being designed and built by a dedicated team of graduate students from the faculties of Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science and students from various Dutch polytechnical schools. With its dimensions of 10 by 10 by 30 centimeters and mass of only 3 kilograms, Delfi-C3 is amongst the smallest category of satellites currently flown in space. It is the first satellite of a continuous program of Delft University of Technology to demonstrate and test new microtechnologies using such small satellites. This program runs in parallel and interconnects with the Dutch research program on microtechnology MicroNED-MiSAT.

The agreement on an official launch date gives the Delfi-C3 team an impulse and boosts the morale to finish Delfi-C3, since it implies a hard deadline for the completion and flight readiness of the satellite. “But what better reward could be imaginable than actually launching and being able to hear that satellite you have worked so hard for to complete?” says Abe Bonnema, graduate of Delfi-C3 and currently Delfi-C3 project manager at the faculty of Aerospace Engineering.

The launch of the satellite in itself is not without risk. It was only last July that with the failure of the launch of a Dnepr launch vehicle from Russia 14 university satellites tragically crashed. “All the work and effort from many student satellite teams from around the world was lost with that. And even though it does not occur that often, unfortunately, such crashes are part of spaceflight too. But we are confident that next year, everything will go according to plan” says Bonnema.

The development and launch of Delfi-C3 support the current trend in the Dutch space policy to stimulate the development of such small satellites in The Netherlands.

Note for editors:
For more information you can contact:

A. Bonnema, Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, phone: +31-15 278 4615 / +31-6 41206289, email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
R. Hamann, Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, phone: +31-015 278 2079
Dr.ir. C. Verhoeven, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, phone: +31-15 278 6482
Frank Nuijens, scientific information services of DUT, phone: +31-15 278 4259, e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

High resolution images are available and can be requested from Frank Nuijens.