Celbridge Scientist Involved In First Irish Satellite Being Launched Into Orbit

Tuesday, 28 November 2023 11:49

Dr. Lána Salmon has been working on EIRSAT-1 for the last number of years

Ireland's first satellite is due to launch into orbit later this week.

Designed and built by a student-led team at UCD, EIRSAT-1, will carry three experiments into space and report data back to a command centre on the Irish campus.

Dr. Lána Salmon, an astrophysicist from Celbridge was a key member of the UCD team which developed the EIRSAT-1 satellite which will be launched by rocket into space.

Dr. Salmon completed her PhD on Gamma-Ray Bursts and Gravitational Waves in the UCD Space Science group in 2021.

She graduated in 2017 with a BSc in Physics with Astronomy and Space Science from UCD.

As a member of the EIRSAT-1 team, Lána worked on communications and the ground segment.

She said, “EIRSAT-1 was a truly amazing project to work on. The team in UCD is the first in the country to design and build a satellite that will be launched into orbit and then operated from Ireland. Having started on this project as a student, and worked on it for so long, it is extremely exciting to see how it will fare when it is launched by rocket into space."

The satellite’s three experiments will test new space technologies developed in Ireland, including an advanced instrument that will probe the early Universe.

It is due to be launched on Thursday.

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