The Catalan nanosatellite MENUT is already orbiting the Earth to collect data on the climate crisis

January 3rd at noon, the second nanosatellite that Catalonia sent into space was successfully launched. It is called MENUT and was manufactured by the company Open Cosmos and launched in conjunction with  Exolaunch.

On January 3rd at noon, the second nanosatellite that Catalonia sent into space was successfully launched. It is called MENUT and was manufactured by the company Open Cosmos and launched in conjunction with  Exolaunch. It was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. It has been put into orbit on time, aboard a Falcon 9 rocket of the American company SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk. The liftoff began punctually at 15:56, Catalan time and it has left a sequence of very colorful images. Approximately one hour after the rocket launch, the satellite was ejected into orbit. 

It is estimated that the MENUT will orbit at a speed of 8 km/second and will fly over Catalonia every five days. It will be part of the Open Constellation project, a group of nanosatellites that will work in a coordinated way to face global challenges such as climate change, the energy crisis, and natural disasters, among others. The Government of Catalonia adds that the data obtained by MENUT will provide "capital" information to influence key aspects of land management such as the analysis of crop productivity or the prevention and detection of forest fires, among others. 

Unlike Enxaneta, the first nanosatellite put into orbit by the Catalan government in March 2021, which provides telecommunications services, MENUT will obtain earth observation data and monitor the effects of the climate crisis. The third nanosatellite will be awarded next spring and will be similar to Enxaneta since it will also be dedicated to telecommunications. The launching into orbit was initially scheduled for December 6 2022, but the launch of the rocket in which this nanosatellite is housed was delayed, so the Catalan administration has had to wait until the start of 2023 to continue the nanosatellite program. Broadcast of the launch of MENUT "We arrived with very strong emotions. It's like D-day when the effort we've been putting in for two years materializes," explains Josep Colomé, director of the Catalan Space Office at the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia. 

The MENUT is a supercomputer of 34 centimeters long by 20 centimeters wide and 10 centimeters deep, that is, it is the size of a shoebox. It will rise 530 kilometers above the earth's surface and will pass over Catalonia every three days on average. The objective is to be able to take photographs to combat the climatic emergency and to monitor fires or other phenomena. Equipped with a state of the art camera, this nanosatellite will be able to record five-meter resolution images of any part of the world, although priority will be given to obtaining images of the Catalan territory that will allow monitoring the impact of climate change, as Jordi Castellví Esturi, mission manager of Open Cosmos, emphasizes: "It can notify us of the condition and quantity of water in the plants. And this can allow us to make decisions with irrigation issues when irrigating crops and these types of strategies." The equipment that the MENUT incorporates can also be useful because it can later be exported to other markets. The former vice-president of the Government Jordi Puigneró launched the Generalitat's NewSpace strategy in 2020, which, among other actions, plan's to put into orbit up to six nanosatellites. 

Edited by: Muhammad Abdullahi Ibrahim

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