SUCHAI-4 is Now in Orbit! A Milestone for Chilean Space Research
Jul 7, 2026·
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1 min read
Dr. Carlos Gonzalez-Cortes
SUCHAI-4 reached orbit at 03:10 Chilean time aboard a Falcon 9, beginning a new stage for Chilean space exploration. The satellite was deployed about 54 minutes after liftoff into an initial orbit at 610 km, then switched on automatically and waited 30 minutes before deploying its antennas. That sequence opened the link with the ground station at the Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences of the University of Chile, followed by verification of onboard systems and the start of the scientific mission.
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Authors
Principal Investigator
Professor in the Computer Engineering Department at the University of Santiago of Chile (USACH).
He holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Chile and has extensive experience in embedded systems, nanosatellites, and flight software. Previously, he developed the SUCHAI family and PlantSat nanosatellites at SPEL, and worked at the Flight Software Department of the German Aerospace Center (DLR). Carlos is passionate about pushing the boundaries of distributed space systems and satellite flight software architectures.