Tartu Observatory labs and space tech department are attending the Startup Day demo area

Tartu Observatory of the University of Tartu will be attending the Startup Day demo area on 16-17 March. We'll showcase the recent lunar rover project and the laboratory services. Representatives of the ESTCube project from the Student Satellite Foundation will also be present.

Image

The Department of space technology will be showing a fresh prototype of the moon rover on the University of Tartu demo area. Visitors will be able to control the rover with a remote control and drive it around. As there is a camera inside the rover, it´s point of view is visible on the screen next to it. We will also present the ULYSSES computer simulation environment, where one can drive a model of the lunar rover on the simulated lunar surface to collect data. The bigger aim is to bring Estonian technologies to the surface of the Moon by the end of the decade or the beginning of the next decade. On top of that, if we develop a lunar rover now, we will have the skills and technology to apply for Mars missions later.

Image

The space technology laboratories of Tartu Observatory and the ESTCube-2 team are waiting for visitors right next to the demo area of the University of Tartu, in the European Space Agency's BIC Estonia area. Engineer Mari Allik and technician Karl Hendrik Kolina are presenting the work of the observatory's accredited laboratories. In our laboratories, it is possible to test various electronic equipment and both calibrate and characterise optical instruments. For Startup Day, we brought a force hammer test game with us: guests can test hitting a hammer with a specified force. You have to hit the hammer with randomly generated force in newtons. Everyone gets three goes. Similarly to the game, our labs at Tõravere have shock testing equipment with a considerably bigger hammer to produce shocks similar to shocks occurring during explosions. This enables to for example test satellites before they are launched to space. In the Space Technology Laboratory also clmatic, thermal vacuum and virbation tests can be performed.

Demo area is opened on both days from 9 to 17 o´clock.