Quetzal-1 was a 1U CubeSat developed by an engineering team from Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG). In 2017, this team was announced as the winner of the KiboCUBE program (a collaboration between the United Nation's Office for Outer Space Affairs, UNOOSA, and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA), which enabled us to launch the satellite to the International Space Station aboard the SpaceX CRS-20 ISS resupply mission, on March 7th, 2020. From there, the satellite was deployed from JAXA's Kibo module on April 28th of the same year. You can watch the deployment here!

Quetzal-1 operated successfully in space from the day of deployment to November 2020. This amounted to 211 days of operation, which validated the performance of all systems on-board. During its lifetime, in 2020, the satellite was nominated for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Small Satellite Mission of the Year award, and was ultimately awarded the People's Choice Award from the same institution, for "a project that has made substantial, unique contributions" [1]. You can check out the award ceremony here! And, more recently, Quetzal-1 was awarded the Arizona State University (ASU) Interplanetary Initiative Award in June 2022. A compelling and in-depth review of Quetzal-1's history, challenges and triumphs can be read in the ASU news article announcing this award.

General information on the project is available on the official site, including news and scientific publications that have been released throughout the project's lifetime. You can also check out this live session on Arduino's EDUvision, where one of our team members speaks about the story behind Quetzal-1, from its inception to the time our satellite spent in space!

The Journal of Small Satellites (JoSS) published its first ever special issue dedicated to Quetzal-1, titled "Guatemala's Pioneering Quetzal-1 Project". This issue includes 2 peer-reviewed papers and a Letter to the Editor, in which the authors highlight the work carried out by approximately 100 students, professors and researchers, with an average age of 21, who participated in the project.

Additionally, the Journal of Applied Remote Sensing (JARS) published a peer-reviewed paper on the development and space operations of the multispectral imaging payload on-board Quetzal-1.

Check out the articles here!

1. JoSS article on the Electrical Power System (EPS)
2. JoSS article on the Attitude Control and Determination System (ADCS)
3. JARS article on the satellite's Payload

We also wrote and published a book about Quetzal-1! It details, from a very human point of view, the journey our team went through, from inception to delivery, and the many triumphs and hardships that took us to that fateful day on the pad in Cape Canaveral, ready to launch to the ISS. It also looks into the operations phase, carried out during the COVID-19 lockdown, and the many obstacles we had to surpass to successfully commission and operate our satellite for 211 days. It's a great read, with lots of photos and diagrams to better showcase the team, its history and our satellite. Check it out!

Currently available for purchase in Spanish here. For international shipping, please contact the e-mail listed in our profile.

Our purpose is to provide a design reference for a satellite that was fully operational for 211 days in orbit, that it may serve as a stepping stone for future novice teams. Technology is being continuously democratized, and this is our little grain of sand in aim of doing just that: enabling access to space, and its wondrous possibilities, for everyone.

[1] Small Satellite, Big Ambitions: UMBC’s Harp Named Smallsat Mission Of The Year - UMBC: University Of Maryland, Baltimore County. (2020, August 7). https://umbc.edu/stories/small-satellite-big-ambitions-umbcs-harp-named-smallsat-mission-of-the-year/