Uploaded August 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
UCAnFly: A CubeSat to Test Magnetic Sensing Technologies for Gravitational Wave Detectors in Space
Ignacio Mateos
UCAnFly is an educational CubeSat project led by the University of Cádiz (UCA) with the support of the European Space Agency (ESA). UCAnFly is being developed in the context of space observatories for gravitational radiation, which are equipped with dedicated on-board instrumentation capable of measuring magnetic fields with low-noise conditions at sub-millihertz frequencies. With this purpose, a compact payload able to achieve the demanding magnetic requirements for LISA will be developed for a 1U-CubeSat. This will allow the in-flight low-frequency noise characterization of the magnetic measurement subsystem based on chip-scale magnetoresistive sensors and make it possible to improve the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of the instrument under the harsh space environment at a low Earth orbit.
The UCAnFly project involves the introduction of a new line of research at the University of Cádiz, which requires engaging and training young researchers with the aim of creating a group specialized in high precision measurement systems for space missions. For this reason, in addition to the mission objectives, one of the main motivations of the project is to complement academic education and transfer knowledge in the field of advanced instrumentation and data analysis for space applications to undergraduate and doctoral students.
The UCAnFly mission, currently in phase C, was selected by a CubeSat Evaluation Panel of ESA experts for the “Fly Your Satellite” program of the ESA Education Office in 2020.
UCAnFly: A CubeSat to Test Magnetic Sensing Technologies for Gravitational Wave Detectors in Space
Ignacio Mateos
UCAnFly is an educational CubeSat project led by the University of Cádiz (UCA) with the support of the European Space Agency (ESA). UCAnFly is being developed in the context of space observatories for gravitational radiation, which are equipped with dedicated on-board instrumentation capable of measuring magnetic fields with low-noise conditions at sub-millihertz frequencies. With this purpose, a compact payload able to achieve the demanding magnetic requirements for LISA will be developed for a 1U-CubeSat. This will allow the in-flight low-frequency noise characterization of the magnetic measurement subsystem based on chip-scale magnetoresistive sensors and make it possible to improve the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of the instrument under the harsh space environment at a low Earth orbit.
The UCAnFly project involves the introduction of a new line of research at the University of Cádiz, which requires engaging and training young researchers with the aim of creating a group specialized in high precision measurement systems for space missions. For this reason, in addition to the mission objectives, one of the main motivations of the project is to complement academic education and transfer knowledge in the field of advanced instrumentation and data analysis for space applications to undergraduate and doctoral students.
The UCAnFly mission, currently in phase C, was selected by a CubeSat Evaluation Panel of ESA experts for the “Fly Your Satellite” program of the ESA Education Office in 2020.
