One of our biggest and most successful projects here at PoliSpace is our 6S CubeSat. 6S is the very first satellite entirely designed and built by students at Politecnico di Milano, with the purpose of offering students a unique hands-on opportunity to apply knowledge on missions planning, subsystem design, and project management.
Recently, as part of our participation in the Fly Your Satellite (FYS!) Test Opportunities programme, the 6S team successfully conducted a vibration test campaign to validate and refine the Structural-Thermal Model (STM) of the CubeSat. Held from October 14th to 18th, directly at ESA’s European Space Security and Education Centre (ESA-ESEC) in Belgium, the main aim of the campaign was to test the preliminary mechanical resistance of the CubeSat whilst aiming to validate the FEM ongoing analysis by the 6S team.
Throughout the week, we improved on our data analysis, documentation, experimentation protocols, and overall testing prowess! With direct support from FYS!, specialized equipment for testing aerospace hardware was available for use, and we made the best of it. Nevertheless, the experience highlighted the importance of precise engineering and careful and methodical testing procedures. Starting from a general fit check and various thorough inspections, all the way through verification of the CubeSat’s mass and dimensions as well as safety and operational requirements, the preparation for the testing was highly in-depth. The testing concluded with the use of a 20kN electrodynamic shaker at the specialized CubeSat Support Facility, where the team simulated mechanical stresses during the most mechanically demanding phase of the mission: launch.
For some more details on the testing campaign and what FYP! entails, ESA themselves wrote an excellent summary. As for the rest of this article, something important remains to be discussed. Just who got to go to Belgium?
The Team
Meet our brave travelers: a small team composed of Riccardo Spinzi, Luca Giuliani, Didier Bontemps, and Andrea Raymond, all PoliMi students from different fields and at various stages of their careers. United by their passion for space, the group shows just a little bit of how diverse the project ecosystem at PoliSpace is, with such variety being present even in a highly specialized group of the highly multidisciplinary 100+ member project that is the 6S CubeSat. So, how about a glimpse behind the curtain into the minds behind an incredibly successful testing campaign?
Riccardo Spinzi
Our first daring traveler, adventurer and test pursuer is Riccardo Spinzi, a Space Engineering Laurea Magistrale student currently working on his thesis. Specializing in structural dynamics, with a particular emphasis on shock response. Quite an explosive specialty.
Despite having previous experience in other fields, Riccardo now serves as the Testing Division Leader. In this role, he manages all testing efforts of the 6S team, making sure everything is done with rigor. Additionally, he serves as the interface between different subdepartments in the 6S project, ensuring the work being done is cohesive between diverse areas. Given that he joined PoliSpace wanting to get practical, hands-on experience, it is safe to say he is right at home. Indeed, to him, PoliSpace provides a unique opportunity to complement the rigorous theoretical studies PoliMi provides by following industry practices and collaborations, as well as the possibility for learning and validation through hands on experience. Additionally, he gets to learn and appreciate the diverse perspectives that PoliSpace presents, as different groups and members bring diverse experiences to the team, and his position as interface allows him to fully embrace this multifocal and multidisciplinary approach to solving problems.
As is the case for all of us, he too is passionate about space. In his case, however, he notes that he finds particular beauty in areas such as orbital mechanics, where (relatively) simple and elegant equations we came up with as a society can represent the seemingly infinite complexity and vastness of space. He also finds beauty in the fact that every time we find an answer to a question or reach a new model, new opportunities for further discovery and research are found too. Indeed, the capacity of science to tackle space and space’s seemingly never-ending challenges presents a true testament to our perseverance as a society.
Beyond that, he also has many passions and hobbies outside of space. Particularly, in his free time he enjoys engaging with fantastic and evocative stories and characters through activities such as Dungeons and Dragons, where he takes the role of both storyteller and character, as well as anime and manga, videogames, and other similar media.
Luca Giuliani
The next member of our group is Luca Giuliani, a Laurea Triennale Civil Engineering student. Despite not being an aerospace student, he found his passion for the subject could be expressed through PoliSpace. Indeed, to him being involved in the association is a way to experience aerospace engineering without having to be a part of the Department of Aerospace Engineering.
Thanks to his studies, he brings in a different perspective that aids the team in structural design and testing. Particularly, they hold a role in PoliSpace’s FEM (Finite Element Method) department, where they model and analyze structural integrity to ensure the CubeSat can handle desired loads whilst avoiding failure due to frequency constraints. Indeed, we would not like to have “rapid unscheduled disassembly” happen to our precious 6S, so it’s better if it happens to the cube that’s on the computer. Additionally, he is also a key contributor to the surface treatment area, where he studies the required anodization for the CubeSat, as well as novel methods to perform it, such as pulsed laser deposition, and its potential in space applications.
To him, space is an exciting passion due to the continuous technological innovation that the field generates. After all, technologies for space have historically set higher benchmarks and eventually become more accessible to other industries or individuals (did you know the cameras from our smartphones we now take for granted are derived from a push to minimize satellite optical cameras and sensors?). Additionally, Luca used to be a frequent powerlifter, but had to take a step back as 15 hours of training weekly was too much on top of his growing academic commitments. Nevertheless, we have seen this same drive and discipline in his work here at PoliSpace.
Didier Bontemps
Next up is Didier Bontemps, a Space Engineering Laurea Magistrale student, enrolled as part of a double degree program. Having come from France, he became part of PoliSpace as a structural testing engineer. Seeking opportunities to do more hands-on work and to go beyond the theoretical aspects provided PoliMi, joining PoliSpace was a natural path for him to follow. Now, he remains with us to keep enjoying this opportunity as well as to produce tangible results and contributions to our projects, as well as to collaborate and work with other great engineers.
More specifically, he is not one to shy away from a challenge, but rather actively seeks them out. He loves hard problems and working towards solving them, and in doing so found a passion for the 6S project. As the CubeSat presents an incredibly intricate system, requiring seamless collaboration amongst a myriad of areas and subsystems, he finds that contributing to it offers a satisfaction hard to find elsewhere. In particular, tackling challenges such as designing and carrying out an entire ESA-backed test campaign (which is remarkably difficult to do), is his driving force.
Indeed, this passion for challenges and complexity is also the root of his love for space. The sheer number of challenges and interplay between them is like a playground to him. He does also enjoy other challenges in life, however, aside from academia, science and engineering. For instance, following a team in motorsport other than Ferrari, whilst living in Italy (trust me, dear reader, speaking from experience: this truly is a challenge). However, as much as he is proud of his Spanish and French double culture, he too proudly stands for a certain rival team of the scuderia (you tried your best, guys, maybe next year!).
Andrea Raymond
Last but certainly not least, Andrea Raymond is the Team Leader of the structures department for the 6S project. Currently, he is pursuing his Laurea Magistrale in Space Engineering and has been with PoliSpace for over two years! (two years as a member of the Design and Manufacturing division in 6S, followed by 6 months leading the structural subsystem). Originally having joined PoliSpace to engage with hands-on projects and other space enthusiasts, he found that PoliSpace offers the only real opportunity for students at PoliMi to work on genuine space industry caliber projects, particularly dealing with mission operations and what happens when we are actually in a space environment.
For Andrea, the CubeSat was a natural choice due to its combination of complex engineering challenges, real-world application of theory, and interactions with industry professionals (that worked out nicely for him, he got to visit ESA-ESEC and directly collaborate with them, after all!). The uniqueness of learning and solving problems under industry level tight deadlines and high stakes whilst still being a student was not something he could pass up.
Like many of us, his passion for space derives from its seemingly endless possibilities. After nearly a century of exploration, space remains the ultimate frontier, and it is incredible engineers such as Andrea and his team that keep pushing its boundaries. Additionally, though, he is yet again a more complex character than that. Having experiences such as co-founding a 3D printing business, working on other projects at PoliMi in the past, such as Physis (project that that aimed to build a 100% environmentally sustainable racing boat), or physically pushing his own boundaries having been an avid climber for nearly a decade, he is as much excellent within his work at PoliSpace as outside of it!
Overall, this team has performed incredible work at ESA, but what can you expect from such a unique combination of wonderful people? Coupled with immense dedication, incredible work ethic and undoubtedly solid theoretical backgrounds, it’s the variety and character of the people that make PoliSpace what it is, and we could not be prouder of our team for what they have achieved this time.
