KSat Stuttgart e.V.

Vielen Dank für Ihren Besuch Silke Launert.

Letzte Woche besuchte die parlamentarische Staatssekretärin des BMFTR Dr. Silke Launert die Fakultät Luft- und Raumfahrttechnik der Universität Stuttgart.
Wir hatten dabei die Gelegenheit unsere Projekte zu präsentieren und einen Einblick in unsere Arbeit zu geben.

Last week, Yolantha Remane presented the key lessons learned from our FINIX ferrofluid experiment at the ESA PAC in Trondheim, Norway.

FINIX was part of the REXUS Cycle 33/34 in 2025, investigating an electrical switch and a ferrofluid-based pump. Now that the lessons have been published, the project has concluded, and the next team is already focusing on the next ferro fluid experiment investigating its optical characteristics.
The lessons learned paper will soon be published in the conference proceedings, so stay tuned!

It was also great to catch up with all the Rexus/Bexus teams and share ideas at the symposium. The sessions covered a wide range of fascinating topics, offering fresh perspectives and inspiring discussions. Plus, Trondheim’s endless daylight provided the perfect backdrop for exploring the city and enjoying the atmosphere.

A big thank you to the Rexus/Bexus organisers - Deutsche Raumfahrtagentur im DLR, SSC Space, zarm and ESA - European Space Agency - for the invitation and for making this event possible! Here’s to more collaborations and reunions in the future.

here we come!

The transporter is loaded, and we’re on our way to meet you in Berlin.
As mentioned in previous posts, our booth will display multiple models and flight hardware from our current and previous projects. Alongside the ferrofluid experiments and the high-altitude balloon, we will also be bringing 1:1 scale models of our SOURCE and SOURCE-2 satellite projects.
SOURCE is in phase D, with the flight hardware currently being prepared for launch in 2028, while SOURCE-2 is preparing for the System Requirements Review (SRR), which will set the foundation for the detailed design of the CubeSat.

If you would like to find out more about these two satellites or any of our other projects, come and visit us at at booth B1/500.

Many thanks to , and .space for this incredible opportunity to showcase our experiments at !

One test closer to achieving system compatibility.

SOURCE is currently conducting continuous tests at unit and system level to ensure compatibility before integration. One such test conducted in recent weeks was an electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) test involving the S-Band antennas, S-Band transceiver and the PCDU.

During the development of the PCDU, we conducted an EMC test at ESTEC with our ESA Fly Your Satellite supervisors. We tested the compatibility of our S-band system (the antennas and the transceiver) with the PCDU in their EMC facility. During the test, we observed a frequency peak very close to SOURCE’s receiving frequency. After investigating the components further, we found the of the frequency peak and fixed it.
The test conducted in the last week was performed in the clean room at . It showed that the issue has been resolved and that the PCDU and S-band system are no longer influencing each other.

Each test gives us more confidence in our system and brings us closer to launch.

satellite

From Excel chaos to structured systems engineering 🚀

Our SOURCE-2 team was featured on the ReqView Blog, sharing how we improved requirements management for our CubeSat project with ReqView and Capella.

This is about more than tools: it is about better collaboration, clearer interfaces, and building a stronger foundation for the next phases of SOURCE-2.

Check out the full story through this link: https://www.reqview.com/blog/ksat-story/

# spaceproject

Meet our space projects and the teams during our introcuctury event this Wednesday.
You will have time to ask questions about specific areas and possible tasks within the project of your choosing.

Introductury event
When: 29.04.2026 at 17:30
Place: Pfaffenwaldring 29, Mediathek (room 0.49)

There will also be a chance to get a tour of our workshop and see the (flight) hardware of our projects.

Excited to meet you there!

If you don’t have time this week but are interested to see what is possible, take a look at our website www.ksat-stuttgart.de and contact us via [email protected]

That's a wrap!

For the last 5 days we presented some of our projects at the . We returned with valuable new ideas and inspiration for our future work.

A huge thank you to everyone involved for making this happen.

📸 Picture 3 by Allianz Industrie 4.0 BW/Daniel Möller Fotografie

bw_i
0_bw

Next Steps in the SOURCE-2 development 🛰️📝

From Requirements to Reality! Our latest monthly Status-Update was all about setting our mission on the right trajectory. Members from all subsystems gathered up to share their recent progress.

We’ve been working hard on finalizing our requirements and closing the feedback (RIDs) from our review, the PRR, that was held in last November. By perfecting these guiderails now, we’ve set a rock-solid foundation to kick off our design phase and start getting our hands on some actual satellite hardware.

review satellitedesign

Progress update on ATHENE: our first rover is really taking shape! 🤖

With support from , we’ve worked hard for the last year to kick off a platform that should get our association competition-ready soon.

On the hardware and design side, we’re integrating topology optimizations for lighter, stiffer parts, metal 3D printing for complex, durable components, stereo vision for depth perception, ultralight sandwich structures, and a full-system software simulation to speed up validation and iteration. On the software side, we’re working on implementing different navigation and mapping algorithms within our ROS 2 framework, so the rover can perceive its surroundings and navigate autonomously. The additional simulation gives us an impression on how the implementation onto the final hardware will look like.

Big thanks to team for their support!

To promote young talent and share what we’re learning, we also took part in Tag der Wissenschaft 2025 and Space Day Stuttgart 2025, where we had great conversations with students, educators, and industry folks. Feel free to visit us at the coming events this year.

More milestones coming soon!

athene

Are you ready to see satellite flight hardware being manufactured?

The SOURCE team is currently preparing the flight hardware for the housekeeping and communication boards, which will conclude the manufacturing process for the self-developed components.
A big thank you to Beta Layout for supporting our development and manufacturing by providing the PCBs.
We are also very excited to have Beta Layout’s support again this year and look forward to sharing the new PCB designs and project developments we will achieve together.

Checkout: de.beta-layout.com