Greece celebrated a major milestone in its national space efforts on Monday, June 23, with the successful launch of DUTHSat-2, the country’s first domestically designed and constructed environmental satellite.
Launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, DUTHSat-2 was developed by the Democritus University of Thrace in partnership with Greek tech firms.
It forms part of the National Microsatellite Programme, co-funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) and Greece’s Recovery and Resilience Fund.
Weighing just 7 kilograms, the satellite will support environmental monitoring, disaster response, and civil protection, providing high-resolution data on issues such as soil moisture, marine pollution, oil spills, and ballast water discharge. It also features an advanced telemetry system, acting as a “space black box” for in-orbit diagnostics.
Greece’s Digital Governance Minister Dimitris Papastergiou hailed the launch as “the beginning of a new era for Greek microsatellite programmes,” announcing that two more Greek-developed cubesats are scheduled to launch later this year.
“This is a bright example of what the Greek scientific community and domestic industry can achieve together,” he said.
The launch follows Greece’s earlier selection as one of two hubs for the EU’s secure satellite communications initiative, GOVSATCOM, reinforcing its growing role in European space collaboration.
Source: tovima.com
