Elevate Education platform by Da Vinci Satellite 2024

In 2024, space technology is more intertwined with our daily lives than ever, playing an essential role in communication, navigation, and data collection for applications such as weather prediction or disaster prevention. It’s crucial for younger generations to gain insights into the systems driving our world forward. By introducing children to space and technology at a young age, we aim to spark their curiosity and inspire them to develop a sustainable vision for technology. 

Inclusive education and equal opportunities are central to our mission: every child, regardless of background or location, deserves the chance to experience space and technology. Da Vinci Satellite is therefore a non-profit project, offering free lessons in schools across the Netherlands and, soon, worldwide through our upcoming educational platform. 

The Project 

The Da Vinci Satellite, a TU Delft student initiative, is dedicated to inspiring the next generation in space and technology. This project began as part of the anniversary of the aerospace engineering student society, “Leonardo da Vinci,” at TU Delft. Since then, it has developed into an educational platform reaching children worldwide. Our platform allows students to engage directly with our satellite mission through interactive tools like the dice module and bitflip experiment. 

Designed, built, and supported by over 80 TU Delft students, our satellite represents what students can achieve. However, the satellite is a means, not the end; it serves to excite and educate the next generation. Through this mission, we bring space science into classrooms via interactive tools, offering students everywhere the chance to join a real space mission. 

This project was created by students and solely for educational purposes. Every euro raised with this crowdfunding goes directly to our educational program. We aim to inspire the next generation and make space more accessible for everyone. 

Crowdfunding 2024 Goal: Elevate Education 

With the satellite nearing readiness for a launch targeted in 2026, we are now focused on an ambitious new goal: launching our online educational platform, Elevate Education by Da Vinci Satellite. This platform will encompass all the knowledge gained by the students within DVS and manage all of our educational modules: information for adults, peer-to-peer learning created by students for students, and specially developed educational content from DVS for schools! 

While we may not be able to visit every classroom in the world in person, through this platform we aim to reach children worldwide. Elevate Education will introduce kids to space exploration and technology in a fun, interactive way — completely free. This way, children and teachers can independently access and teach the lessons, with our team available daily for support and tips. 

This platform complements the existing curriculum, where technical education often receives limited attention. Elevate Education provides materials for primary schools, high schools, and educators, helping to inspire a new generation of space enthusiasts around the world. 

ESA Fly Your Satellite! 

We’re incredibly proud that our project was selected for ESA’s Fly Your Satellite! Program, marking a new step in our educational mission.  

Fly Your Satellite! is an ESA educational programme complementing academic education; it is part of the ESA Academy programme. Through Fly Your Satellite! ESA aims to inspire, engage and beter prepare students to undertake scientific and technological careers, in particular in the space sector. 

Through this program, we now work closely with experts from the European Space Agency (ESA) to test our satellite and prepare it optimally for launch. Our students get the unique opportunity to gain practical experience in a real space project from cradle to grave.   

We have access to ESA facilities, specifically the CubeSat Support Facilities at ESA ESEC in Redu, Belgium, to test our satellite under realistic conditions and receive direct mentorship from experts in focused meetings. This unique opportunity provides hands-on industry experience, allowing us to incorporate our learnings into our educational goals.

The Satellite 

Our technical teams, with support from various companies and the Aerospace Engineering Faculty, have developed a new satellite: a CubeSat, no bigger than a milk carton and powered by solar energy. With this, we’re not only educating the next generation but also learning ourselves! This satellite includes two unique educational modules. The first is a dice game, inspired by children’s own ideas after we asked them what they would want a satellite to do, and developed by the Leiden Instrument Makers School (LiS). In this way, we’re working not only for children but with them, making their understanding of space tangible. The second module is the bitflip module; a radiation sensitive memory card, allowing to observe the effects of cosmic radiation on the stored data and introducing teenagers to computer science and space engineering in a visual way. 

With this CubeSat, we aim to give children around the world the opportunity to experience space exploration and technology up close, spark their curiosity, and inspire them to actively contribute to the innovations of the future. 

Crowdfunding 2021 

Thanks to your generous support in 2020, we raised a substantial amount, enabling us to finalize the satellite design and conduct payload tests—our deepest thanks for that! With this new crowdfunding campaign, we are focused on educational facilitation and the development of our online platform. All funds from this campaign will be devoted entirely to these essential initiatives, allowing us to inspire and educate even more students around the world. 

Our educational program is designed to make space exploration tangible and understandable for students of various ages. We adhere to five key principles: 

• Educate and Inspire 
• Accessible 
• Approachable 
• Non-conventional Teaching Methods 
• Good Quality 

We focus on two target groups, for which we have developed multiple modules: 

Primary School

For primary education, we have created two modules that make the wonder of space exploration accessible and tangible for young students. The curriculum includes games and storytelling modules that take children on an interactive journey through the solar system. 

Module 1: Space Around You 

This module was co-developed with children, focusing on creating lesson content that brings space phenomena to life in their immediate surroundings. Through inquiry-based learning and outdoor activities, children explore the space around them. Using our dice and bitflip payload, they gain insights into space phenomena in a way that sparks their curiosity. Through a playful adventure, they learn about celestial bodies like the Moon, the Sun, Mars, the ISS, and other satellites, making complex concepts such as gravity easy to grasp. 

Module 2: SpaceBuzz 

In partnership with the official SpaceBuzz program, we aim to inspire young students to become ambassadors for planet Earth. Through a combination of interactive lessons and a Virtual Reality experience, where children get to experience the ‘overview effect,’ they learn about the solar system. This unique VR journey through space offers them a new perspective on our planet and encourages them to think about their role in the larger picture. 

High School

For older students, we offer an in-depth educational program focused on space exploration and computer science, consisting of two modules. 

Module 1: Masterclasses 

This module introduces students to a wide range of space-related topics, spread over eight weekly three-hour sessions. The sessions offer flexibility: students can attend the entire program or select specific topics. The lessons are interactive and use diverse teaching methods such as debates, serious gaming, and modeling to foster engagement and critical thinking. Our Dice and Bitflip payloads are also explored, allowing students to learn through play about microgravity and the impact of cosmic radiation. 

Module 2: Computer Science and Space Mission Design 

This module offers a practical and interactive way to learn coding and space mission design. Our educational Bitflip payload plays a key role, giving students insight into the effects of cosmic radiation on digital data. This experiment allows them to upload images to the satellite, where cosmic radiation randomly flips bits in the image, demonstrating how radiation disrupts data and teaching them about error correction and computer science. 

With our own Computer Science book as the foundation, enhanced by innovative elements, students receive a general introduction to computer science and can further explore topics such as ‘Orbit Determination’ and ‘Error Correction.’ In this context, they discover how error correction works in digital systems, inspired by the real disruptions caused by cosmic radiation, as demonstrated by our Bitflip payload.

Through these educational modules, we aim to inspire children and young people worldwide to think about technology and space exploration and to motivate them to explore the world around them. 

The Da Vinci Satellite is a CubeSat designed primarily for educational purposes. With two unique payloads on board, designed by our students, this satellite brings science directly to the classroom:  

Dice Payload

Developed by the Leiden Instrument Makers School (LiS), this instrument features dice that float freely in microgravity. The payload allows students to roll the dice in space. The dice are fixed in place by a clamping mechanism, and a photo capturing their result with Earth as the backdrop is sent back to Earth. This provides a unique, tangible experience where space and technology meet in a fun way.  

Bitflip Payload

This bitflip experiment allows students to upload an image to the satellite, where cosmic radiation affects bits on the memory card, leading to a degradation of the image due to bitflips in the data (where zeros and ones flip). This experiment gives students a direct look at how radiation affects digital systems and offers insight into how space technology operates. 

Subsystems 

The On-Board Computer (OBC) controls the entire satellite, acting as the system’s brain. Custom software ensures all primary payloads function optimally and keeps the satellite stable in orbit.  

The Attitude Determination and Control System (ADCS) is crucial for maintaining the satellite’s orientation, preventing uncontrolled spinning. This system estimates the satellite's attitude with measurements of the earth's magnetic field, the experienced accelerations and the direction of incoming sunlight. Using sensor data and reaction wheels and magnetorquers, the satellite stabilizes itself. Additionally, the ADCS is essential for precisely pointing the camera toward Earth to capture images of the dice. 

For Earth communication, the satellite includes a transceiver to both receive and send signals to the Ground Station owned and operated by the Aerospace Faculty of TU Delft. This infrastructure will be used by the DVS satellite operations team to interact with the satellite. 

The entire system operates on a 5-volt power source, regulated to a consistent 3.5 volts—less power than three AA batteries!  

Our CubeSat is a compact satellite, about the size of a milk carton, but equipped with advanced technologies like solar panels, an on-board computer, and a communications system to send data to Earth. This makes our satellite a valuable educational tool for students to engage with.