Watch Live: Historic Launch of EIRSAT-1, Ireland’s First Satellite

EIRSAT-1 is Ireland’s first satellite, designed and built by students from University College Dublin participating in ESA Academy’s Fly Your Satellite! program. Credit: ESA

Watch the live launch broadcast of Ireland’s first satellite EIRSAT-1 on ESA Web TV Channel 2 and ESA YouTube, currently scheduled for December 1. Coverage of this historic moment is set to begin at 19:00 CET/18:00 GMT. 

Built by students at University College Dublin under guidance of ESA’s Education Office, EIRSAT-1 is a 2-unit CubeSat carrying three experiments, including a novel gamma-ray detector that will study some of the most luminous explosions in the universe.

The mission has been in development since the team was accepted to the ESA Academy Fly Your Satellite! program in 2017. Over the past six years, the students have worked with ESA experts and acquired the professional competencies needed to design and build their satellite. They were accompanied through test campaigns at ESA Education’s CubeSat Support Facility in Belgium and other ESA sites, and were also offered by ESA the opportunity to launch their satellite.

EIRSAT-1 team at ESA ESTEC. Credit: ESA

While the satellite makes its way to the launch pad, the student team is preparing to operate the satellite from Mission Control at University College Dublin.

Irish broadcaster Rick O’Shea. Credit: Ruth Medjber

Find out more about this unique mission during our live launch coverage. Irish broadcaster Rick O’Shea, with guests from ESA and the EIRSAT-1 team, will take viewers through the mission’s history and major launch milestones including liftoff, separation, and acquisition of signal, from outside the EIRSAT-1 Mission Control Room. Níl aon satailít mar do shatailít féin! [There’s no satellite like your own satellite!]

Learn more about how students have built Ireland’s first satellite:

A team of university students from University College Dublin is taking Ireland to space, for the very first time. The story begins in 2017, when the team was accepted to ESA’s educational CubeSat program, Fly Your Satellite! Over the course of six years, they have designed, built, and tested the satellite with the help of ESA experts and with access to ESA’s state-of-the-art spacecraft testing facilities. As the team prepares for launch and operations, hear more about their journey to this historic moment. Credit: ESA