Technique

CubeSat

Spei Satelles is a 3U CubeSat, i.e. a small satellite measuring 34x10x10 cm and weighing less than 3 kg. The external surface of the satellite is covered by solar panels, which allow the production of the electrical power necessary to power its devices. SpeiSat hosts several components: two on-board computers, two communication systems in the UHF band (it is therefore equipped with two antennas), a battery for energy storage, small magnets for satellite stabilization after launch and a suite of thermal and inertial sensors to collect measurements in the space environment.
Furthermore, SpeiSat physically keeps a nanobook with the Holy Father's book in his shell and a file containing the messages of hope to be spread during his journey. SpeiSat operates in low Earth orbit, more precisely in a sun-synchronous orbit at about 525 km of altitude from the Earth's surface.

Transmitter data:

• Frequency: 437.5MHz
• Modulation: GMSK at 9600 bit/s
• Protocol: AX.25

Nano-book

The nano-books are miniaturized objects, made starting from polished silicon supports, thin plates made of dark gray crystalline material. On these substrates, which are square in shape and slightly smaller than 2 mm, nanometric-sized holes have been "engraved", i.e. smaller than a thousandth of the thickness of a human hair.
Since it was not possible to make a conventional miniature print at such small dimensions, a "code" was used: the digital contents of the paper book were transformed into a sequence of 0 and 1, the binary code used in information technology. In correspondence with each "1" a nano-hole was made, while for each "0" an empty space was left. In this way it is possible to recover all the information of the original book by "reading" the sequence of nano-holes present on the surface.

How is it possible to engrave and see such small structures? With nanotechnology! Technologically advanced tools that allow to modify materials and measure the morphology of surfaces in an extremely accurate way and at an extremely small scale.

The nanobook was fabricated by the Institute of Photonics and Nanotechnology of the National Research Council of Italy.