The Falcon 9 rocket that transports the third nanosatellite of the Generalitat, the 'Minairó', is already in orbit. The nanosatellite, designed to improve 5G technology, took off at 11:48 p.m. local time (8:48 a.m. Catalan time) from the base in Vandenberg, California (United States), the company Sateliot, which has developed it, has reported.
It was the third attempt to launch the rocket after it was postponed twice due to bad weather conditions.
'Minairó' measures less than a shoe box: 30 centimeters long, 20 wide and 10 high. It will serve the regional administration in the field of telecommunications when it passes over Catalan territory (twice a day), while during the rest of its route it will serve other customers.
Sateliot, owned by Cellnex and Indra, has been awarded this service for 650,000 euros, excluding VAT.
The first nanosatellite launched months ago by the Generalitat, 'Enxaneta', related to the telecommunications sector, was also designed by Sateliot -although it commissioned its manufacture to the also Catalan Open Cosmos, which was awarded a contract of just over 574,000 euros- .
The second nanosatellite contract, that of 'Menut', was awarded by Open Cosmos for 1.72 million. In this case, the nanosatellite is used to obtain terrestrial observation data and monitor the effects of the climate crisis.
These initiatives are part of the Generalitat's commitment to the new space economy, that is, the industry that emerged in parallel to CubeSat, a standard for nanosatellites that weigh less than ten kilos and that have lowered the cost of space exploration.
The name given by the Generalitat to this nanosatellite comes from a children's and youth program of the Catalan Audiovisual Media Corporation (CCMA), specifically from channel SX3.
