Project News

On May 14, 2026, Kyushu Institute of Technology held an unveiling event at its Tobata Campus to mark the completion of the VERTECS nanosatellite. Following opening remarks by Professor Kentaro Kitamura, Director of Kyushu Institute of Technology’s Center for Innovative Space Utilization Demonstration, Assistant Professor Kei Sano of the Department of Space Systems Engineering introduced

At the Visible and Infrared Instrumentation Technology Workshop 2025, held at Kyoto Sangyo University on November 10–11, 2025, Shunsuke Nakagawa, a first-year doctoral student in the Space Systems Engineering Course at Kyushu Institute of Technology, received the Young Presenter Award (Silver Award). The award-winning presentation was titled “VERTECS, a 6U Satellite for Cosmic Optical Background

Kick Space Technologies Inc. has been established as a space startup originating from Kyushu Institute of Technology. Building on the university’s long-standing technologies and expertise in nanosatellite development, Kick Space Technologies provides integrated support spanning mission studies, design, manufacturing, testing, and operations. In addition to developing CubeSats and other nanosatellites, the company develops and sells

SPIE Astronomical Telescopes＋Instrumentation 2024 was held at Pacifico Yokohama, from 18 to 20 June. Prof. Kei Sano, Research Associate Galindo Rosales Reynel Josue, Mr. Shunsuke Nakagawa(M2), Mr. Hisataka Kawasaki (M2) and Mr. Ezra Fielding (M2) of Kyushu Institute of Technology, and Dr. Koji Takimoto of ISAS/JAXA, and Mr. Hayato Tanaka (M2t) of Tokyo Institute of Technology presented

At Wireless Japan 2024 x Wireless Technology Park (WTP) 2024 held at Tokyo Big Sight from May 29 (Wed.) to 31 (Fri.), 2024, Assistant Professor Nakayama, Mr. Rin Sato (B4) and Mr. Yusuke Iwaki (B4) from Kyushu Institute of Technology presented a poster exhibition on VERTECS communication. We were able to exchange information with people

On April 25, 2024, the VERTECS project conducted a PDR (Preliminary Design Review). The purpose of the PDR was to verify the consistency between the system requirements and the subsystem design, and to provide feedback on the BBM tests conducted for each subsystem, etc. During the PDR, team members gave presentations on the satellite subsystem

The 2024 Spring Annual Meeting of the Astronomical Society of Japan was held at the Hongo Campus of University of Tokyo from 11 to 15 March 2024. Prof. Sano and Shunsuke Nakagawa of Kyushu Institute of Technology and Hayato Tanaka of Tokyo Institute of Technology gave presentations on the progress of the VERTECS satellite development.

The 6th International Workshop on Lean Satellite was held in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, from 4 to 7 December 2023. Prof. Sano, Prof. Nakayama and Ezra Fielding (M2) of Kyushu Institute of Technology gave presentations on the progress of the VERTECS satellite development. Prof. Sano presented “VERTECS: 6U satellite for astrophysical science” on the second day of

The 2023 Autumn Annual Meeting of the Astronomical Society of Japan was held at the Higashiyama Campus of Nagoya University from 20 to 22 September 2023. Prof. Sano and Dr. Takimoto of Kyushu Institute of Technology gave presentations on the progress of the VERTECS satellite development. Prof. Sano presented “Visible Extragalactic background RadiaTion Exploration 6U

The 2023 Small Satellite Conference was held at Utah State University from 5 to 10 August 2023. Prof. Sano gave a presentation on the progress of the VERTECS satellite development. Prof. Sano’s presentation was entitled “Astronomical 6U CubeSat Mission VERTECS”. For more information on this presentation, go to: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/smallsat/2023/all2023/154/