The official launch date was announced by Jean-Jacques Dordain! More information can be found here.

We would like to wish all our Partners and Supporters Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! The New Year eCard was sent by the ESA Education Office which is in the head of the post.

Following extensive negotiations regarding technical and administrative issues, the European Space Agency (ESA) had confirmed that Masat-1 is to be integrated into one of the 3U P-PODs launched on the Vega Maiden Flight. Members of our team travelled to the technology centre of ESA in the Netherlands to carry out final test and hand over the flight model to the agency. Before the delivery some photographs were made which can be seen below. As we are still busy with various pre-launch activities, we will only be able to share additional photos later.

The first two photographs show the developers and the heads of the two university departments involved. First photo (from the left): Gyula Horváth, Levente Dudás, Sándor Glisics, Dr. Márta Rencz, Tamás Temesvölgyi, Zoltán Kovács, Gábor Marosy and Dávid Czifra. Masat-1 flight model is in the centre and a mass model is in the suitcase. Second photo (from the left): Gábor Marosy, András Szimler, Levente Dudás, Tamás Temesvölgyi, Dr. András Gschwindt, Zoltán Kovács, Dávid Czifra, Dr. Lajos Nagy and Gyula Horváth. Masat-1 transport container with mass model is in the centre.

The last 3 pictures show the flight model of Masat-1. We would like to express our acknowledgements to our sponsors and partners for their trust and permanent support. We would also like to thank everybody who supported us and who is eagerly waiting for a successful launch.

We plan to keep you informed regarding the launch. More information and pictures to come later.

A presentation titled “The first Hungarian satellite” will be held in the joint organization of the CATV and Reception Techniques sections of HTE.

• Performed by: Dr. András Gschwindt (BME)
• Date and time: 7 June 2011, 4:00 PM
• Location: Budapest, VI. Andrássy út 3.

I was very pleased to read recently how positively some people feel about space research in Hungary and abroad:

Space related activities are beneficial for the economic growth of the EU and they substantially contribute to the fulfillment of the EU2020 strategy, therefore it is desirable to use space research to serve EU citizens – emphasized Zoltán Cséfalvay, strategic undersecretary of state of the Ministry for National Economy, on the press conference organized during the meeting of the Competitiveness Council on 31 May 2011 in Brussels.

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