The launch of AEROS MH-1, the second Portuguese satellite, into orbit

AEROS MH-1, a Portuguese satellite, was launched yesterday, in a Space X Falcon 9 rocket, with live online transmission. The whereabouts of the satellite can be tracked, in real time, on an application developed by the AIR Centre. 31 years succeeding PoSat-1, and following an eager countdown, the AEROS MH-1 nanosatellite was launched at 22h05, on board of Space X's Falcon 9 from their base in Vandenberg, California. The occasion was broadcasted live and marks a significant milestone in Portuguese space exploration, and in global scientific progress, as the satellite will contribute to monitoring ocean variables and marine biodiversity, providing a better knowledge of the Earth's oceans and coasts. It will orbit slightly above the International Space Station and the gathering of data will be done from the teleport in Santa Maria island, Azores. The AIR Centre played a key role in its early conceptual design and end-user applications in the maritime domain, including Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), and has developed a tool (https://services.aircentre.org/sat-tracker/) to track the satellite’s whereabouts. After 3 years of work, this was the result of a collaborative effort, led by CEiiA and Thales Edisoft Portugal, in international partnership with Massachusetts Institute of Technology, involving several national entities: Spin.Works and dstelecom, as well as relevant research institutes and universities, namely Universidade do Minho, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto | FCUP, Universidade do Algarve, Instituto Superior Técnico, Center for Innovation, Technology and Policy Research, +ATLANTIC CoLAB , Okeanos - Institute of Marine Sciences and AIR Centre - Atlantic International Research Centre.