On Monday, March 22, 2021, at 7 am, the Soyuz-Fregat launcher successfully launched Stecco (Space Travelling Egg Controlled Catadioptric Object) from the Baikonur cosmodrome. Students, researchers and professors from the School of Aerospace Engineering carried out the project coordinated by Antonella Ingenito from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

Stecco is a PocketQube 6P measuring 5x5x30 cm³.; despite its small size and the low mass of 0.85 kg, Stecco contains several advanced purpose-built systems, such as the new POHEBE on-board computers (OBC) and the EPS power system, which will be tested in flight. The PocketQube is the first to be equipped with two cube corner reflectors (CCRs), which will be used for Satellite Laser Ranging experiments, and with a passive viscous damper, whose purpose is to dissipate the rotational kinetic energy of the satellite, thus favouring its stabilisation by the gravity gradient.

With Stecco, the School of Aerospace Engineering is launching its eighth satellite in the last 20 years, setting an international record.