The Slovak team FEIsat has ranked among the top five student teams in Europe in the prestigious ESA Fly Your Satellite! Design Booster 2 program. The team’s goal is to build their own satellite ready for launch into space. Over the next year and a half, these young scientists will undergo intensive development, training, and consultations under the guidance of experts from the European Space Agency (ESA). This marks the creation of the first Slovak student's satellite developed in collaboration with ESA.
The ESA Fly Your Satellite! Design Booster 2 program offers students a unique opportunity to turn theoretical knowledge into a real technological project—developing a satellite capable of conducting scientific experiments in Earth orbit. FEIsat is one of 15 teams that participated in a week-long intensive training session at the ESA ESTEC center in the Netherlands in November 2024. During this training, students gained valuable experience in satellite development. A few days ago, ESA’s expert committee announced the five top-performing teams—including our very own FEIsat. The Slovak team earned its place alongside finalists from Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, and Italy. STU students now face an intensive cycle of work, supported by top ESA experts.
“This achievement is a testament to the dedication, perseverance, and expertise of our students. But it’s only the beginning—a challenging yet exciting journey lies ahead as they work to build a fully functional satellite prototype. Our goal is to get the first Slovak student satellite into Earth orbit. I believe this success will also inspire future cohorts of students in the Space Engineering program at FEI STU,” said Professor Vladimír Kutiš, Dean of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, STU in Bratislava.
The Slovak team is focusing on developing original technological solutions, such as an antenna system, a power module, and a unique micro-laboratory for measuring the viscosity of lubricants—contributing to the testing of materials for use in space. The project brings together students from various academic programs at FEI STU in Bratislava, creating an interdisciplinary environment that merges a wide range of expertise under one university roof—essential for developing advanced space technologies.
“Thanks to this program, we’ve gained access to solving technological challenges on a European level. Since this is only the second edition of the program—and there are no plans to open another one for at least two years—we are becoming a unique hub for space engineering and space-focused projects in Slovakia,” said Matej Novák, team leader of the student group FEIsat.
The FEIsat team is now preparing for the next phases of the program, which include detailed component design, testing, and preparation for the creation of a functional prototype—the flatsat. Upon successful completion of this phase, the FEI STU students aim to participate in the follow-up ESA program Fly Your Satellite!, which focuses on finalizing the satellite and preparing it for space deployment.
In addition to the technical development, the team is also working on expanding its membership by recruiting new talented students. The recruitment will be open not only to STU students, but also to young scientists from other universities who want to be part of a unique project aimed at developing and successfully launching a Slovak satellite into space.
