01The payload
AIS payload
AIS receiverA compact receiver that detects and decodes AIS signals from ships, demonstrating small-satellite support for maritime safety and navigation intelligence.
LISAT-01Lisbon's New Satellite
We’re buildinga satellite.
Explore LISAT-01
A 1U CubeSat listening for ships across Portugal’s Exclusive Economic Zone.
OriginLisbon, PT
Mission statusIn development
01What is LISAT
A student-led space engineering team at Instituto Superior Técnico, building a satellite that watches Portugal’s ocean.
Founded in 2024, LISAT exists so students can learn engineering by doing the real thing — with real deadlines, real reviews and real consequences.
- 39
- Active members
- 8
- Departments
- 3
- Faculties represented
- 20+
- Partners & supporters
02The mission
LISAT-01
Maritime awareness from space
LISAT-01 is our first 1U CubeSat, fully developed by students at Instituto Superior Técnico. It collects AIS signals from ships to strengthen Portugal’s maritime domain awareness — and to prove that an academic team can design, build and operate a satellite.
Mission statusCritical Design Review complete — awaiting Phase B decision
AIS receiver02The spacecraft
1U CubeSat platform
10 × 10 × 10 cmBuilt and integrated by students — modular ADCS, power and communications inside a 10 × 10 × 10 cm bus, engineered for fast testing and operations.
03The ground segment
Ground segment
3 ground stations in PortugalOperated by students and partners, our network includes three ground stations across Portugal to maximise maritime coverage and ensure reliable telemetry and AIS downlink.
AIS receiver10 × 10 × 10 cm3 ground stations in Portugal03 chapters
- Form factor
- 1U CubeSat
- Dimensions
- 10 × 10 × 10 cm
- Payload
- AIS receiver
- Mission
- Maritime domain awareness
03The team
Built by students.Engineered for space.
43 students from Instituto Superior Técnico, FCUL and ISEG — aerospace, mechanical, electronics, computer science, physics and management. Nobody here has flown a satellite before. That is rather the point.
Degrees represented
- LEAer
- LEBB
- LEEC
- LEFT
- LEGI
- LEIC
- LEMec
- MEAer
- MEIC
- MEMec
- Members
- 43
- Departments
- 8
- Founded
- 2024
04Systems & teams
Eight departments, one spacecraft.
LISAT-01 is one machine made of many. Each department owns a subsystem or a function, writes its own requirements, and has to make them meet everyone else’s.
Mission
LISAT-01
1U CubeSat · 10 × 10 × 10 cm
Platform
Powers, points and protects it
Organisation
Makes the work possible
05Latest from LISAT
What we’re building, right now.
06Support
Nobody builds a satellite alone.
29 companies, laboratories and institutions contribute components, software, facilities and expert review to the mission.
