Description

MLPLUS-CM aims at consolidating the short-term objective of the precursor project MARTINLARA-CM (by continuing with the established collaborative hub) and supports the medium and longterm ones (by consolidating ML's developments and moving towards a more mature phase closer to launch-readiness).

The In-Orbit-Demonstration (IOD) mission MARTINLARA (ML) was proposed from the need to address some of the main challenges facing our society, from climate action to sustainable economic development (both development goals established by the United Nations and priorities for the European Union).

The precursor project MARTINLARA-CM leveraged the knowledge and experience available in the Community of Madrid to address these challenges through innovation in space technology and science. Specifically, it was proposed to develop a nano/microsatellite platform equipped with various payloads related to radioastronomy, Earth observation, space photonics, and plasma micro-propulsion. All these technologies have an important impact on solving social problems (such as climate change) and for sustainable access to space (to allow deployment of nano/micro-satellite constellations for observation that fulfil present and future debris rules). The project interweaved various disciplines in the fields of aerospace engineering, telecommunications, astronomy, geodesy and geophysics.

In the short term, ML involved the development of new capabilities and the creation of a collaborative hub in space technology in the Community of Madrid. And in the medium and long term, the goal was to facilitate participation of its members in international projects related to radioastronomy, Earth Science, and propulsion, and to launch ML. Among the results, actually successes, of MARTINLARA-CM we highlight:

• Collaboration between 6 groups to develop an advanced radiometer from concept phase to its integration into UPMSat-3, the third satellite of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, which is ready for launch in 2024/2025.

• Collaboration between 3 groups for the development, integration, and verification tests of MARTINLARA's FlatSat.
• Collaboration between 4 groups to evaluate and define the engineering requirements to integrate in MARTINLARA a method of acquiring and processing scientific data from the radiometers for observation of Earth's atmosphere.
• Collaboration between 3 groups for the development of the mission and platform of MARTINLARA. The results of this collaboration were transferred outside the project and benefited the development of UPMSat-3 as well as the mission and platform of the first student CubeSat at UC3M, ST3LLARsat-1 "Boira" –for which this transfer was key to become the first university CubeSat in the Comunidad de Madrid chosen by ESA for its Fly-Your-Satellite! Design Booster program.