Scientific Magazine in Japan Highlights Development of First Costa Rican Satellite

The Irazú Project, the first Costa Rican satellite launched into space, was praised in an article published by the Japanese Society of Aeronautical and Space Sciences (JSASS) titled “Project Irazú: Space and Earth Engineering of a Recording and Relay Mission with a CubeSat 1U for environmental monitoring”, highlighting the success of its launch in April 2018. The achievement of this project, developed by students from the Technological Institute of Costa Rica (TEC), consisted of the development of a monitoring system for carbon fixation in forests. To do this, for six months, the satellite sensors collected daily data on the growth of trees in a plantation, transmitting the information to the station in Cartago. For its part, external review by leading experts, including figures such as Franklin Chang, a company scientist at Ad Astra Rocket Company, and representatives from NASA, adds relevance and quality to the project. A reference and inspiration “This article compiles and makes available to the general public the final results of the mission in all its aspects. Furthermore, it can serve as a reference and inspiration to other organizations interested in developing this type of projects,” commented Dr. Johan Carvajal Godínez, coordinator of the TEC Space Systems Laboratory (SETEC-Lab) and co-author of the article.