The history of LitSat-1 consists of 3 main stages:
- Establishing the international relations
- Acquiring experience and qualification
- Designing and producing the LitSat-1 satellite
The first stage started in 2007, when the National platform of space technologies was founded and later, the Lithuanian Space Association followed. This legal compound carried the main activities in promoting and developing space technologies at the national level. The first contacts were established among space technology scientists of Baltic countries and later with the NASA Ames scientific research center. These relationships enabled to find new viewpoints as well as to cooperate with different space scientific research centers around the world.
The necessary qualifications were acquired in several stages. The first stage was acquiring the expertise and experience of the other countries. The creators and initiators of the satellite studied the operation of various scientific research centers in other countries, as well as space technologies and available funding sources. The second stage consisted of comprehensive studies and promotion of the space science in Lithuania. The implementation of this stage was initiated in 2012, when two students from Kaunas University of Technology got selected for internships at the NASA Ames scientific research center. The message about it soon spread in Lithuania, and it became the main accelerant which helped to set the society in motion and to inspire the future achievements and advancement in space technology in our country.
As the main objective of the Lithuanian Space association was oriented towards the real projects, the consecutive development of first Lithuanian satellites was initiated.
The full story can be found here.
