Kicking off the CubeSat Support Facility 2025 activities: Thermal Balancing with 6S

Having participated in the Fly Your Satellite! Design Booster programme, the 6S team demonstrated the range of opportunities FYS! provides to support teams across all phases of their projects, from design and manufacturing to testing.

Following their selection, they successfully tested their Structural-Thermal Model (STM) in a Thermal Balance Test campaign from 24 to 28 February 2025, at the CubeSat Support Facility located at ESEC Redu, Belgium.

In-depth

After being selected for the FYS! Test Opportunities program, the PoliSpace student organization from Politecnico di Milano successfully conducted their thermal balance test campaign on the 1U CubeSat STM, following their previous successes with the vibration campaign. The test took place from February 24 to 28, 2025.

This test campaign served two crucial purposes:

• To assess the Structural-Thermal Model (STM) of the CubeSat under thermal stress, revealing any design weaknesses before qualifying it for launch.
• To generate sufficient data for Thermal Mathematical Model and Analysis correlation, ensuring accurate validation of thermal simulations.

Four dedicated team members travelled from Milan to ESA-ESEC in Belgium to carry out this test, reflecting their commitment to pushing the boundaries of space technology while gaining real-world exposure to a complete satellite development cycle.

At the CubeSat Support Facility, the team prepared their dummy satellite bus together with heaters that would represent the expected heat dissipation of their subsystems per mode of operation. Multiple thermocouples (a kind of temperature sensor) were placed to measure the various temperatures from critical points. The tests provided crucial insights into how their satellite responds to the changing environment, reinforcing their understanding on how the system will respond.

Thanks to the FYS! Test Opportunities programme, students from Politecnico di Milano gained hands-on experience in executing high-level testing campaigns, mastering documentation, and adhering to strict laboratory protocols. This week’s results not only highlight the demanding nature of the space environment but also emphasise the need for skilled professionals in Europe’s growing space industry.

We are very excited to kick off 2025 with this successful campaign and we wish best of luck to PoliSpace team and their amazing 6S project.

Beyond satellite projects, these test opportunities extend to a broader audience, including sounding rocket teams and participants in ESA Academy experiments, fostering innovation across multiple disciplines.

Learn more about the programme.