APTAS is the first student CubeSat developed at LTU. The goal is to design, build, test and operate a 1U CubeSat for scientific and educational purposes whilst paving the way for future generations of students who want to develop their own CubeSats! It has two payloads: ECAT and CAM. ECAT consists of an RF transmitter to be used for calibration of the planned EISCAT 3D research project, a new phased-array system located in northern Sweden, Norway and Finland. CAM is a camera operating in the visible range, aiming to image geophysical features such as glaciers for size measurements and change rates in addition to project outreach.

The project is currently in Phase D – Qualification, verification and production and has a preliminary launch in Q1 2022. The teams in the project is System Engineering, Software, Communications, Mechanical, Electronics, ADCS, Power, Science and Management.