Summary

With the historic launch of EIRSAT-1 on December 1st 2023, Ireland became a spacefaring nation. The launch inspired a poem connecting poetry with space and the satellite’s award-winning PR campaign reached thirteen million people. It resulted in a Dáil debate, and the ensuing adoption of a space law in Ireland ensured the international recognition of EIRSAT-1 by the UN as Ireland’s first satellite. This has secured UCD’s place in Ireland’s space history and supported Ireland’s growth in this future trillion dollar sector. EIRSAT-1 arose from over a decade of fundamental research using technology developed by UCD researchers and Irish companies. EIRSAT-1 has resulted in the country’s largest space investment of €7.9m in a UCD-led space project. Building EIRSAT-1 has also had a transformational educational impact for 50 university students, while inspiring thousands of schoolchildren.

Research description

The Educational Irish Research Satellite, EIRSAT-1, is the outcome of over a decade of space research in UCD. Building EIRSAT-1 has led to a clean-room, mission control centre with a ground station and satellite test facilities, all for the benefit of future space research and education.

The Gamma-ray Module (GMOD) is the main EIRSAT-1 experiment. GMOD is designed to detect gamma-ray bursts, a key research area for the UCD Space Science group, which has led to numerous high impact publications and collaborations with NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA). GMOD relies on a decade of research, with support from ESA, Science Foundation Ireland, the EU, the Irish Research Council and Irish company, SensL.

In parallel, the Dynamics and Control group in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, under contract to ESA, has completed research on novel control algorithms for the position and attitude control of flexible systems. A method called Wave-Based Control, developed in the group, has been applied to rockets with flexible structures. On EIRSAT-1, Wave-Based Control has been implemented as a software testbed where novel magnetic attitude control algorithms can be uploaded and tested on orbit. Finally, the GMOD experiment evolved from research in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering with Irish company ENBIO.

The research foundations of the extensive education, public engagement and outreach impact from EIRSAT-1 arose from more than 10 years of space education (including, for example, the MSc in Space Science & Technology) and engaged research, including Dublin Maker festival, hackathons, EU-funded citizen science astronomy research, and art-science collaborations.

Research impact

Social and cultural impact

The EIRSAT-1 mission, accepted into the European Space Agency Academy 'Fly Your Satellite' programme in 2017, focuses on astrophysics and control systems research, and on providing UCD students with hands-on space mission design, development, launch and operations experience.

The award-winning EIRSAT-1 launch campaign has had a significant impact on public awareness of Ireland's space activities, with combined audiences of 13 million through various media. The launch was broadcast live by RTÉ Six-One News from Mission Control in UCD. ESA’s Web TV broadcast on launch night from UCD had more than 64,000 views. There were 49 regional news articles and radio interviews featuring team members, including articles by The Irish Times and RTÉ. ESA’s documentary about EIRSAT-1 has 12,000 YouTube views.

ESA DG Josef Aschbacher: ‘I’d like to thank UCD for joining forces with ESA towards a common educational objective: boosting the skills of the young generation. It’s only by building capacity that we can make our space ambitions become a reality.’

Political impact

The mission has had a significant policy impact. This included the ratification of the UN Outer Space Treaty, via Dáil debate, which was a prerequisite for the government of Ireland to authorise the mission as ‘Ireland’s first satellite’.

“Congratulations to all involved in successful launch of EIRSAT-1, Ireland’s first satellite, particularly @UCD team who designed & built it. With support of @ESA this hugely important Irish project will break new frontiers for space research & education”

-Leo Varadkar on X

Minister Neale Richmond, TD: ‘I am confident that this historic achievement will be a catalyst for many more space projects and the beginning of another exciting chapter for Ireland’s space industry.’ 

Educational impact

EIRSAT-1 aims to inspire curiosity about space and dispel stereotypes. The team reached 10,000 people through school visits, festivals, competitions, careers events, workshops, exhibitions and conferences, significantly boosting attendees’ knowledge of, and interest in, space careers.

The 'EIRSAT-1: Ireland's First Steps into Space' comic book reached 25,000 students. The comic book increased mission awareness and science, technology, engineering and mathematics engagement, especially during COVID-19, when 85% of teachers found it supported their teaching. A collaboration with the Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI) and the JCSP Libraries resulted in a poem, 'All Ways Home,' co-created by DEIS school pupils and UCD humanities scholars etched onto the spacecraft and made into an animated film. DEIS stands for ‘delivering equality of opportunity in schools’ and is an initiative by the Irish government to provide better educational opportunities for those in communities at risk of disadvantage and social exclusion.

The poem was also translated into Irish by UCD’s School of Irish, Celtic Studies and Folklore and the animation can be viewed in Irish.

The Department of Education & Skills' Oide group developed 13 curriculum resources using EIRSAT-1, including coding and radio communications. The team disseminated knowledge of EIRSAT-1 to 70 teachers at workshops and webinars. EIRSAT-1 was mentioned on the Leaving Certificate Higher Irish Paper in 2019.

At university level, about fifty students from various disciplines (mainly physics and mechanical & materials engineering) built EIRSAT-1 over 6 years and through the pandemic, significantly developing their careers in space research, industry and the tech sector. A new spacecraft operations module is now being developed for UCD's MSc in Space Science & Technology, ensuring knowledge transfer.

Economic and technological impact

Building industry-academic partnerships and incorporating Irish technology into the spacecraft has led to the award of €7.9m to the ‘National Space Subsystems & Payloads Initiative’ (NSSPI) through the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund, representing the largest single ‘space’ investment in Ireland. NSSPI is led by UCD, with 6 partner companies, two of whom have recruited EIRSAT-1 researchers.

EIRSAT-1 has positioned UCD as a notable space university. Two EIRSAT-1 related SFI Frontiers grants, worth €2m, have been awarded. A next-generation mission proposal using EIRSAT-1 payload technology won ESA’s 'SYSNOVA' competition with space industry and research partners in April 2024, securing funding to develop this concept further. This achievement underscores the foundational impact of EIRSAT-1 for Ireland and UCD’s future space research ambitions.