The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development of the Andalusian Regional Government through the Agricultural and Fisheries Management Agency (AGAPA) together with the Directorate General for Advanced Technologies and Educational Transformation of the Ministry of Educational Development and Vocational Training, have launched an action to choose the name of the first nanosatellite that Andalusia will send into space.

This milestone, scheduled for next October, which is part of the SmartFood project, will monitor the impact of agriculture, livestock and fisheries on the management of biodiversity and ecosystems.

To choose the name of the Andalusian nanosatellite, an on-line survey will be distributed to Andalusian secondary schools that are part of the ALDEA Educational Innovation Programme: Environmental Education for the educational community and the STEAM Programme: Aerospace Research applied to the Classroom.

Participants will be able to choose between 8 proposed names:

• Platero
• Meridion
• Andalsat
• Seneca
• Village
• InnoSat
• HortaSat
• PlankSat

The proposal with the highest number of votes will be the name given to the nanosatellite. In addition, a series of prizes related to this historic milestone will be raffled among the participants who have chosen the name with the most votes.

The initiative aims to involve students in the process of selecting the name for the nanosatellite, the approach of students to the knowledge of the characteristics of this technological development and the subsequent participation in the analysis of the data it will offer on Andalusian biodiversity, data that we intend to incorporate in the processes of Educational Innovation that are carried out in the Line of Intervention Conservation and Improvement of Biodiversity of the Aldea Programme. Check the rules here.

Andalusia, heading for space
The launch of the nanosatellite will mark a before and after in Andalusia. The device is currently under construction by Open Cosmos, a company from Cádiz and based in London, which has been awarded the contract for the design and launch into orbit. It is one of the most advanced devices in aerospace technology. The main innovative element is that, in addition to collecting images with a state-of-the-art multispectral camera, it can capture data that are dumped in real time on the same platform together with those obtained by terrestrial and floating sensors through e-IoT (Internet of Things) observation technology to make the data more processable. Everything will be monitored from a control centre in the Matalascañas Dune Park in Huelva.

The nanosatellite – a satellite weighing less than 10 kg – is made up of six 10 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm cubes and is equipped with high-precision cameras that will give ground resolution of almost five metres. The device will orbit at an altitude of 560 kilometres and will make a full circle over Andalusia every two days.

SmartFood, European innovation led in Andalusia
The SmartFood project is a European initiative led by AGAPA to promote the sustainable development of the agricultural, fisheries and forestry sectors in Andalusia through technology and innovation.

The initiative has the international research consortium LifeWatch ERIC as its main partner. The project is financed with ERDF funds and has the collaboration of the universities of Cordoba and Malaga and the Campus of International Agri-Food Excellence (ceiA3).