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Postgraduate Students Build South Africa’s First Nanosatellite

By Jeffrey Hill | August 22, 2012

      [Satellite TODAY 08-22-12] The Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) in South Africa has designed and built the country’s first nanosatellite that will be launched into space from Russia in November, CPUT announced Aug. 21.

         CPUT’s ZACube-1 was built by postgraduate students of the French South African Institute of Technology (F’SATI). ZACube-1 will be used for space science experiments and its activities would be monitored by F’SATI’s ground station. The satellite is 10 centimeters cubed in size and weighs just 1.2 kilograms.
         “ZACube-1 is a significant milestone for South Africa,” F’SATI Program Director Robert van Zyl said in a statement. “The human capacity development, technology innovation and science born from ZACube-1 far exceeds its size and will motivate and inspire future young generations to reach for the stars.”