The student team behind experiment OSCAR-QUBE are celebrating after hardware was integrated into the International Space Station’s ICECubes facility by ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, on September 3, 2021.
According to ESA, the OSCAR-QUBE experiment uses diamond-based quantum technology to perform extremely rapid and precise magnetic field measurements, allowing the team to create a high-resolution map of these fields from Low Earth Orbit.
It is part of ESA Education Office’s Orbit Your Thesis! programme, where student teams produce their own experiments to be installed onboard the International Space Station.
This “learning by doing” approach not only gives students fantastic experiences to form the foundations of their future careers in the space sector but also actively contributes to the advancement of science and technology.
The ICECubes facility will be OSCAR-QUBE’s home for the next eight months, but the immediate next step is for the students to begin a series of test routines designed to ensure that the experiment is working properly after its turbulent ride into space.
Once full functionality has been confirmed the team will switch the equipment to collection mode, providing the students with valuable data to analyse, says ESA.
