News and Announcements
LACW 2026 – Latin American CubeSat Workshop
05/03/2026
UFSC hosts Latin America’s leading forum dedicated to research and development of small satellites.
Interview with Teacher Eduardo Bezerra
14/01/2026
Watch the interview with our coordinator, Teacher Eduardo Bezerra, about SpaceLab and the Catarina Constellation. The conversation was published on the Brasil com Ciência YouTube channel.
Brazilian Space Agency officially adopts the Catarina Constellation in the National Space Activities Program (PNAE)
18/12/2025
The Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) has unanimously approved the official adoption of the Catarina Constellation, a mission that involves the SENAI Institute of Innovation in Embedded Systems, the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI), the Civil Defense, and technical support from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE).
The decision, taken during the seventh ordinary meeting of the Procedure for the Selection and Adoption of Space Missions (ProSAME), establishes the project as a national priority and confirms its technological maturity, strategic relevance, and comprehensive programmatic vision.
To infinity and beyond: SpaceLab takes research at UFSC's Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering to another level
18/12/2025
SpaceLab, responsible for launching the university’s first satellite into space in 2019, is part of the Catarina Constellation project, which aims to build the country’s first fleet of nanosatellites for territorial monitoring and response to climate emergencies.
CDR - CATARINA
12/04/24
Title: “Meeting to review satellite project under development at UFSC“
On April 11 and 12, 2024, the Critical Design Review (CDR) of the Catarina Constellation satellite under development by UFSC students and researchers will take place. The team includes several professors, master’s and doctoral students from PPGEEL, as well as undergraduate students from various UFSC courses.
Supervisor: Prof. Eduardo Augusto Bezerra
Examination committee:
- Alexandre Macedo de Oliveira (AEB)
- Antonio Carlos Pereira (INPE)
- Chantal Cappelletti (University of Nottingham)
- Fabio Armelin (INPE)
- Fábio França Silva Araújo (AEB)
- Rodrigo Leonardi (AEB)
- Ronan Arraes (INPE)
Ian Downie Final Year Project examination
29/09/21
Ian Garner Downie presented his Final Year Project.
Title: “Communications strategy for configuring nano-satellites activities scheduling“
Supervisor: Prof. Eduardo Augusto Bezerra
Examination committee:
Prof. Eduardo Augusto Bezerra, UFSC, President
Prof. Anderson Wedderhoff Spengler, UFSC
Prof. Felipe Viel, Univali
Guilherme dos Santos MSc results have been published
28/09/21
Title: “Static Attitude Determination Using Convolutional Neural Networks“
MDPI Sensors.
https://doi.org/10.3390/s21196419
André Mattos Final Year Project examination
24/09/21
André Martins Pio de Mattos presented his Final Year Project.
Title: “Development of a satellite radiation experiment for evaluating SDRAM memories in harsh environments“
Supervisor: Prof. Eduardo Augusto Bezerra
Examination committee:
Prof. Eduardo Augusto Bezerra, UFSC, President
Prof. Fabian Luis Vargas, PUCRS
Dr. Fabio Batagin Armelin, INPE
FloripaSat-2 and Aldebaran-I structures are ready
22/09/21
FloripaSat-2 and Aldebaran-I structures were fabricated by USIPED.
FloripaSat-2 Structure: kill-switch kinematics test
20/09/21
FloripaSat-2 Structure: Kinematics test of the kill-switch trigger at USIPED.
Payload-XL thermal vacuum tests
15/09/21
The thermal vacuum chamber at ESTEC has been pumped down, and Payload-XL will be exposed to temperatures in the range between -40C to +65C for the following 7 days. The goal is to emulate the orbit conditions (vacuum and temperature), when the satellite will spend a couple of hours facing the Sun, and another couple of hours in eclipse, in the Earth’s shadow. This temperature variation will last for the whole satellite’s life time, approximately 19 times a day, depending on the chosen orbit.
Emerson Lemos Viva Voce examination
26/08/21
Emerson da Trindade Lemos presented his Master Thesis.
Title: “Analysis and redesign of the FloripaSat communications bus aiming to mitigate failures in the physical and data link layers“
Supervisor: Prof. Eduardo Augusto Bezerra
Thesis committee:
Prof. Eduardo Augusto Bezerra, Ph.D., UFSC, President
Prof. Fabian Luis Vargas, Dr., PUCRS
Prof. Roberto de Matos, Dr., IFSC
Prof. Héctor Pettenghi Róldan, Dr., UFSC
Guilherme dos Santos Viva Voce examination
23/08/21
Guilherme Henrique dos Santos presented his Master Thesis.
Title: “Static Attitude Determination Using Convolutional Neural Networks“
Supervisor: Prof. Eduardo Augusto Bezerra
Thesis committee:
Prof. Eduardo Augusto Bezerra, Ph.D., UFSC, President
Prof. Danilo Silva, Dr., UFSC
Prof. Luiz Fernando Carvalho, Dr., UTFPR
Prof. Laio Oriel Seman, Dr., Univali
Payload-XL vibration test
19/08/21
Payload-XL is under vibration tests at ESA/ESTEC.
Spacelab's new PIBIC scholarships
28/08/21
Two PIBIC scholarships in the field of verification and validation of small satellites have been granted to Caique Gomes and Joao Claudio Barcellos. Congrats!
Accelerometers installed in the Payload-XL board
16/08/21
Payload-XL has been properly instrumented with accelerometers for the vibration tests at ESA/ESTEC.
Payload-XL is assembled at ESA and it is ready for the test campaign
12/08/21
The integration phase of Payload-XL has ended this morning at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in The Netherlands.
Payload-XL is assembled in Sweden
06/08/21
The Payload-XL board developed at SpaceLab has been stacked with the remaining modules of the Advanced Payload Processors (APPs) payload to be used in the GOMX-5 mission.
CNPq PIBIC scholarship
04/08/21
Two scholarships available in SpaceLab in the hardware/software test field. The candidates must contact Eduardo.Bezerra@ufsc.br by August 20.
Kleber Gouveia Junior Viva Voce examination
03/08/21
Kleber Reis Gouveia Júnior presented his Master Thesis.
Title: “Space segment design flow for Cubesat missions reliability improvement“
Supervisor: Prof. Eduardo Augusto Bezerra
Thesis committee:
Prof. Eduardo Augusto Bezerra, Ph.D., UFSC, President
Prof. Anderson Wedderhoff Spengler, Dr., UFSC
Prof. Kleber Vieira de Paiva, Dr., UFSC
Dr. Rodrigo Leonardi, The Brazilian Space Agency
AEB director meeting at UFSC
28/07/21
Dr. Cristiano Trein, Director of the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) presented the Catarina Constellation initiative to Prof. Sebastiao Soares, UFSC’s Dean of Research. Prof. Eduardo Bezerra, Amir de Oliveira, Talita Posamai, Victor de Negri, Edson de Pieri, and Sergio Peters also attended the meeting.
Catarina Constellation MDR planning
15/07/21
Full day workshop as a preparation activity for the Mission Definition Review (MDR) of Catarina Constellation.
AEB's president and directors visit SpaceLab
28/07/20
Mr. Carlos Moura, President of the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB), Mr. Cristiano Trein, Space Sector Governance Director (Diretoria de Governança do Setor Espacial), and Mr. Paulo Barros, Portfolio Management Director (Diretor de Gestão de Portfólio), have been received by Prof. Eduardo Bezerra who made a presentation describing SpaceLab’s ongoing missions.
FloripaSat-2 CDR Meeting
13/03/20
On March 12 and 13, 2020, SpaceLab met with members of UFMA, SECTI/MA, INPE e AEB for the CDR (Critical Design Review) of the next mission coordinated by the laboratory: FloripaSat-2.
Selective Process 2020-1 Result
09/03/20
After great demand, SpaceLab UFSC announces the result of the selection process of the first semester of 2020 for undergradate students.
Results Selective Process Subscriptions 2020-1
08/03/20
SpaceLab UFSC publishes the results of the first phase of the Selection Process 20-1.
Selective Process 2020-1
02/03/20
The Space Technology Research Laboratory at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (SpaceLab UFSC) opens the selection process for the first half of 2020.
UbatubaSat and SpaceLab next satellites
10/12/19
The UbatubaSat group will launch its first CubeSat using the FloripaSat-1 platform, developed by UFSC’s SpaceLab laboratory, consisting of its core modules (EPS, OBDH and TT&C). The release is scheduled for April 2020.
The development of two other satellites in partnership with SpaceLab is being planned for the years 2022 and 2024.
The UbatubaSat project aims to awaken, at the beginning of school life, students’ interest in science and technology, especially in the aerospace area. The project was devised by math teacher Candido de Moura from Presidente Tancredo de Almeida Neves Municipal School. He challenged his fifth graders to set up a picosatellite, which would later be known as Tancredo-1. It was launched in December 2016
Currently around 400 students participate in the program, where they participate in various activities such as welding courses with spatial qualification and basic electronics.
FloripaSat-1 is on the news!
28/11/19
In the latest weeks many journalists and magazine/television groups visited SpaceLab HQ in UFSC Florianópolis to know about the FloripaSat-1 mission’s development and objetives.
SpaceLab at SC EXPO DEFENSE 2019
30/09/19
The event brought together defense areas to showcase the latest in defense products and technologies, promoting the integration of the Armed Forces with industry and technology centres.
