Robust Satellite Engineering in Educational Cubesat Missions at the Example of the UWE-3 Project

With the introduction of the cubesat standard hands-on satellite engineering received a significant boost at educational university programs. However, not all missions could demonstrate successful operation in orbit. Besides technical challenges due to the extremely limited mass and volume imposed by the standard, cubesat projects at university level typically inhere challenges due to high student fluctuation together with significant launch delays and limited financial budgets. In order to ensure feasibility and continuity over long time, special care in the engineering process, especially design, production, integration and testing, has to be taken. This contribution gives an overview about tools and procedures developed in the context of the University of Wuerzburgs UWE project, which support robust satellite engineering despite mentioned challenges.