9 July 2024: Ariane 62 Maiden Flight (VA262) Deploys Eight European & NASA CubeSats Including ISTSat-1, 3Cat-4, OOV-Cube and CURIE
Europe’s Ariane 6 rocket injected eight institutional and university CubeSats into a 580 km circular LEO during its inaugural VA262 mission on 9 July 2024.
On 9 July 2024, ArianeGroup’s Ariane 62 lifted off from ELA-4 at the Guiana Space Centre on flight VA262, restoring independent European heavy-lift launch capability and carrying a dedicated small-satellite rideshare cluster via Exolaunch and ISISPACE deployers.
Among the separated nanosatellites was ISTSat-1, Portugal’s first university 1U CubeSat developed at Instituto Superior Técnico (University of Lisbon) under ESA’s Fly Your Satellite! program to demonstrate a compact spaceborne ADS-B aircraft tracking receiver.
The flight also deployed UPC Barcelona’s 1U 3Cat-4 (GNSS-R and L-band radiometry with a deployable helical antenna), TU Berlin / RapidCubes’ OOV-Cube, and NASA’s dual 6U CURIE (CubeSat Radio Interferometry Experiment) spacecraft.
CELESTRAK SATCAT & TELEMETRY RECORD
Verified Spacecraft Key Facts & Orbital Dossier
| Spacecraft | Class | Operator / Country | Launch & Vehicle | NORAD / COSPAR | Orbit & RF Downlink | Catalog Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ISTSat-1 | 1U | Instituto Superior Técnico (ULisboa) / ESA PT | Ariane 62 (VA262) · Exolaunch EXOpod Nova | Unassigned 2024-128D | 145.895 MHz (VHF/UHF) | Active |
Catalogued Mission Summaries & Flight Notes
- ISTSat-1 (1U, 2024):
- Portugal’s first university-built 1U CubeSat (~1.1 kg), deployed at 580 km on Ariane 6’s maiden flight (VA262) under ESA Fly Your Satellite! to demonstrate spaceborne 1090 MHz ADS-B aircraft tracking.