The Aeros MH-1, which features cutting-edge technology developed by dstelecom, has just won an award at the 2024 Small Satellites Conference.

Launched on March 4 this year, the nanosatellite received the Mission of the Year Award during the prestigious event in Logan, Utah, in the United States. The conference took place between August 3rd and 8th and highlighted Aeros MH-1 among the other competitors.

Developed by Portuguese companies and academic institutions, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Aeros MH-1 represents a significant milestone for the national space industry. By contributing communications technology, dstelecom played a crucial role in bringing the project to fruition. "Within the scope of its competencies, our work focused mainly on the development of digital signal processing algorithms, with the aim of demodulating the signals received by the satellite and modulating the processed signal to send back to earth," says Ricardo Salgado, the company's CEO.

Sent into space on March 4, it weighs just 4.5 kilos and is positioned at an altitude of 510 kilometers, slightly above the International Space Station. Its mission is to observe the Earth, with a special focus on monitoring the Atlantic Ocean, for the next three years.

MH-1, named in honour of former Science Minister Manuel Heitor, recognized by the nanosatellite consortium as the project's main promoter, became the second Portuguese satellite to be launched into space, 30 years after PoSAT-1, a 50-kilogram microsatellite that was placed in Earth orbit in September 1993 and decommissioned after a decade of operation.

This project began in 2020 and involved an investment of 2.78 million euros, of which 1.88 million were co-financed by Feder - the European Regional Development Fund.

See images of the Aeros MH-1 nanosatellite here.