Facilities

CSAT — Leganés

Director: Andrés Marcos Esteban

Our main facility

The CSAT-Leganés site is the central facility of the CSAT. It is located at UC3M Leganés campus and is where the main activities for Research and Development (R&D) as well Assembly, Integration, Verification and Testing (AIVT) for space technology and nano/micro-satellites are carried out. It is composed of:

A central AIV area of 70 m²
An ISO-8 clean-room of 70 m²
A CubeSat Operations Center (CSOC)
A Software/Hardware-In-The-Loop laboratory (SIL/HIL-lab)
An Attitude Determination Control System testing laboratory (ADCS-lab)

Inside Leganés

Our spaces

Central AIV area

The Main AIV room is the core workspace of CSAT-Leganés, where the primary assembly and integration activities take place. It features a high-functionality central area with ESD-protected workbenches capable of supporting heavy satellite structures, equipped with a full suite of electronic test and measurement instruments — including power supplies, oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, signal generators, multimeters and a digital microscope. The room is also equipped with precision mechanical tools and calibration equipment. This space is designed to support all development and integration work that does not require cleanroom conditions, serving as the everyday workhorse of the facility.

Clean room

The ISO-8 cleanroom is the highest-grade environment within CSAT-Leganés, designed for the most sensitive stages of satellite assembly and integration. With controlled levels of dust and contamination, it ensures that delicate components and payloads are handled in conditions that meet space qualification standards. The cleanroom is equipped with the same electronic test and measurement capabilities as the main AIV room, allowing integration work to continue seamlessly within a clean environment. It is the final step in the on-ground preparation of a satellite before it is ready for launch.

CSOC

The CubeSat Operations Center (CSOC) is the mission control hub of CSAT-Leganés. From here, the team manages satellite communications through a UHF/VHF antenna installed on the Leganés campus, handling telemetry reception and command transmission to active satellites in orbit. The CSOC is operated by UC3-BASE, UC3M's student and faculty amateur radio association, making it also a hands-on training ground for the next generation of satellite operators.

SIL/HIL lab

The SIL/HIL lab is where software and hardware validation takes place before any component is integrated into the satellite. It is equipped with a high-fidelity GNSS simulator capable of reproducing real orbital conditions, as well as advanced signal generation and analysis instruments covering a wide frequency range. This allows engineers to rigorously test onboard systems in a simulated space environment without leaving the ground. The lab also hosts the facility's soldering station, kept separate from the main integration areas to ensure a clean and controlled working environment.

ADCS lab

The ADCS lab is dedicated to the validation of attitude determination and control systems — the technology responsible for orienting and stabilizing a satellite in orbit. It features a low-friction platform that allows satellites to rotate freely, simulating the near-frictionless conditions of space, along with a Helmholtz cage that generates a controlled magnetic field environment to replicate Earth's magnetic field at any orbit. A solar simulator completes the setup, enabling realistic testing of sun-tracking and power generation systems. Together, these capabilities allow full end-to-end validation of a satellite's attitude control behavior, for platforms ranging from small CubeSats up to microsatellites of up to 200 kg.