Yesterday, the Artemis II mission surpassed the distance record set by Apollo 13 during its lunar flyby.
These images, captured by our nanosatellite SONATE-2, show the Moon rising over Antarctica: Our closest neighbor, seen from orbit.
Godspeed to the four astronauts on their journey back to Earth.
Special thanks to the SONATE-2 operations team for their outstanding work, especially to the student Raphael Hahn for the calculations that made this capture possible.
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This achievement demonstrates the capability of small satellite platforms to perform demanding imaging tasks and highlights their potential for applications in space situational awareness.
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Capturing this image required precise timing, accurate attitude determination and control, and highly reliable onboard systems.
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Both platforms were traveling at approximately 7.6 km/s, resulting in a high relative velocity and a very limited observation window.
The image was acquired at a distance of roughly 150 km.
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Captured in motion: our nanosatellite SONATE-2 successfully imaged the International Space Station (ISS).
The first image is magnified for improved visibility, the second image shows the original capture.
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Over the weekend, SONATE-2's #SSTV transmitter 🛰 is active again, sending 2 different images taken from orbit.
The #APRS digipeater will be switched off during that period (28.03.2026 - 29.03.2026).
Transmission Schedule:
(All times UTC)
➡️ go.uniwue.de/sstv
Over the weekend, SONATE-2's #SSTV transmitter 🛰 is active again, sending 2 different images taken from orbit.
The #APRS digipeater will be switched off during that period (06.03.26 - 09.03.26).
Transmission Schedule:
(All times UTC)
➡️ go.uniwue.de/sstv
Here are 4 highlight images from SONATE-2 taken from orbit. With our payload, we capture Earth in VIS and NIR. 🌍🛰️For more images see: www.informatik.uni-wuerzburg.de/raumfahrttec...
#SONATE2 #CubeSat #SpaceTech #NewSpace #EarthObservation #DLR
🎉Celebrating 2 years operations of SONATE-2!🛰️ Funded by @dlr-spaceagency.bsky.social and developed at @uni-wuerzburg.de 🎓Milestones: ✅ AI trained in space,📡operations from Würzburg with @wuespace.bsky.social, 🌍 Ham radio #APRS #SSTV, 💡spawned Start-up Pyxis Space pyxis-space.com 🚀
In celebration of SONATE-2's second birthday, we will again activate our #SSTV transmitter. (145.880 MHz, Martin M1)
The #APRS digipeater will be switched off during that period (04.03.26 12:00 - 05.03.26 12:00 UTC)
#hamradio #amateurradio #vhf #sonate2
➡️ go.uniwue.de/sstv
Transmission Schedule:
A small contribution to the amateur radio community by our CubeSat SONATE-2: from Jul 2024–Jan 2026 we relayed 44,365 APRS packets 🎉
This animation shows their monthly global distribution🌍📡🛰️
APRS = small ham-radio digital packets (position/status/telemetry).
See all plots: go.uniwue.de/aprssonate2
At the Winter Satellite Workshop 2026, we presented the Apophis Interceptor mission concept.
It demonstrates the potential of small satellites for flexible, rapid-response, and cost-efficient asteroid reconnaissance. 🚀
#SmallSat #AsteroidResearch #WSW2026
The JMU Space-Observatory photographed the 3rd known interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS currently visiting our solar system!
What you see is a stacked image from over 2h of footage by our telescope (D69) at the University of Würzburg.
You can nicely see the tail of the comet towards the upper right!
Finally SONATE-2's #SSTV transmitter 🛰 is active again, sending 2 different images taken from orbit.
The #APRS digipeater will be switched off during that period (05.12.25 15:30 - 08.12.25 15:00 UTC).
#hamradio #amateurradio #vhf
➡️ go.uniwue.de/sstv
Transmission Schedule:
(All times UTC)
At the ZARM drop tower, we recreated Martian conditions and our maple-seed-like vehicles achieved Autorotation. Even real maple seeds spun! 🍁
First autorotation tests under extraterrestrial conditions—paper coming soon!
Professor Hakan Kayal was a guest of Harald Lesch on the ZDF documentary series Terra X. In a roughly 20-minute interview, he discusses the scientific study of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs).
▶️ www.youtube.com/watch?v=60Lc...
Wednesday night, our SkyCAM system at the BlueBox in Hessdalen captured a possible meteor or space debris reentry. A similar system, SkyCAM-7, operates at Zugspitze’s Schneefernerhaus in the context of VaMEx-3 MarsSymphony.
@uni-wuerzburg.de
go.uniwue.de/skycam
www.hessdalen.org/the-blue-box
Where are we? 🌍
Two major seas, one striking mountain range in between.
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Answer:
Top: the Caspian Sea 🌊
Bottom: the Black Sea 🌊
In between: the Caucasus 🏔️
🛰️ Captured by our nanosatellite SONATE-2.
Earth as seen from space, captured by our Nanosatellite SONATE-2.
With funding from @dlr-spaceagency.bsky.social , we continue our work toward a German smallsat flyby mission to (99942) Apophis in 2029.
#CubeSat #PlanetaryDefense
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🛰️ NEAlight extended – Apophis remains in focus!
Following the presentation of the Interceptor mission concept at the Apophis T-4 Workshop in Tokyo, the NEAlight project now enters its next phase.
@uni-wuerzburg.de
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Over the Easter weekend 🐰, SONATE-2's #SSTV transmitter 🛰 is active again, sending 2 different images taken from orbit.
The #APRS digipeater will be switched off during that period (18.04.25 15:30 - 21.04.25 09:00 UTC).
➡️ go.uniwue.de/sstv
Transmission Schedule:
(All times UTC)
Grafik zum Tag der Raumfahrt, rechts: ein Astronaut, der die Erde umarmt. Links davon der Schriftzug "Tag der Raumfahrt. 28. und 29. März 2025"; oben und unten Logos der Deutschen Raumfahrtagentur im DLR und des Bundesministeriums für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz. Hintergrund der Grafik ist dunkelblau mit Sternen.
✨🚀 Lust, in die Welt der Raumfahrt einzutauchen? 🚀✨ Zum 1. Mal veranstaltet die Bundesregierung mit uns den #TagderRaumfahrt. Am 28. + 29. März öffnen 83 Einrichtungen ihre Tore in 38 Städten - seid dabei!
Infos dazu: shorturl.at/BhGZm
Event-Karte: tagderraumfahrt25.de
@bmwk.de @derbdi.bsky.social
Over the weekend, SONATE-2's #SSTV transmitter 🛰 is active again, sending 2 different images taken from orbit.
The #APRS digipeater will be switched off during that period (07.03.25 15:45 - 10.03.25 11:45 UTC).
➡️ go.uniwue.de/sstv
Transmission Schedule:
(All times UTC)
The Würzburg University satellite SONATE-2 in the clean room laboratory with unfolded solar panels. (Photo: Hakan Kayal)
Our university #satellite #SONATE-2 has been in orbit for a year now! It has achieved all its mission objectives and trained an #AI on board, among other things. What happens now with the satellite @jmuspace.bsky.social
➡️ www.uni-wuerzburg.de/en/news-and-...
The telescope on the roof of the Geography building on the Hubland Campus of the University of Würzburg. (Photo: Tobias Herbst / University of Würzburg)
Our #telescope tracks #asteroids! This data is provided to the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, USA. Congratulations @jmuspace.bsky.social @wuespace.bsky.social!
➡️www.uni-wuerzburg.de/en/news-and-events/news/...
