PlantSat (Satellite of the University of Chile for Aerospace Investigation)is a 3U CubeSat satellite, built by students and engineers of the University of Chile. Its main mission is to monitor the behavior of a plant in a microgravity environment and in extreme conditions of solar radiation.
Its goal is to study in low earth orbit the growth of a suitable plant, replicating the conditions that life will experience on Mars? surface. These conditions include low gravity force and high solar radiation.
Plantsat is a joint project between researcher Mr. Matthew Lehmitz, who is leading the scientific mission, GomSpace, danish company that is kindly providing the satellite platform, University of Chile that is leading the satellite assembly, integration, testing, and the biosphere payload.
The 3U CubeSat satellite, provided by GomSpace, consists of two units containing the satellites systems (based on SUCHAI 2) and one unit consisting of the biosphere payload. The proposed plant genus for PlantSat is Tillandsia. This is a hardy genus that can be found all across the neotropics, high up in the mountains of the Andes and down to the shores of the Atacama desert. This hardiness and versatility makes it an excellent candidate for survival in harsh environments.
Originally a launch on an was planned, but later the mission was moved to the ION-SCV 005 tug to be launched on a Falcon-9 v1.2 (Block 5) in April 2022.
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