This work describes the successful education experience for five years of space engineering education at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), Madrid, Spain. The MSc. in Space Systems (MUSE, Máster Universitario en Sistemas Espaciales) is a 2-year and 120-ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System) master program organized by the Microgravity Institute ‘Ignacio Da Riva’ (IDR/UPM), a research institute of UPM with extensive experience in the space sector. The teaching methodology is oriented to Project Based Learning (PBL), taking advantage of the IDR/UPM Institute experience. The main purposes are to share the IDR/UPM knowledge with the students and promote their collaboration with several space scientific institutions, both national and international. In the present work, the most relevant characteristics of this master program are described, highlighting the importance of the student’s participation in actual missions. In addition, to offer practical cases in all aspects of satellite development, the IDR/UPM decided to create its own satellite development program, the UPMSats. The latest, the UPMSat-2, is an educational, scientific, and in-orbit technological demonstration microsatellite (50 kg-class) that was launched in September 2020 on-board a Vega launcher (VV-16 flight). MUSE students have participated in all phases of the mission, from design to integration, calibration, and testing, and (at present) in-orbit operation. The construction of a microsatellite, although it exceeds in time the academic duration of the master, has proven to be a very interesting and versatile tool for PBL education, since it provides practical cases at all levels of development. Furthermore, the continuity of the project encourages graduated students to continue their education with a Ph.D. and the collaboration of master and doctoral students. These reasons have made MUSE one of the most successful academic programs in space systems engineering in Spain, with high employment rates in the most prestigious space engineering institutions

In combination with magnetometers, solar sensors are one of the most used instruments for determining the attitude of small satellites. These devices use the photoelectric effect to produce an electrical current. This electrical current, or the voltage associated with the electrical circuit of the solar sensor, is measured in order to compute the angle of incident of the sun with the normal direction of the sensor. Then, together with the computed angles of other solar sensors on different faces of the satellite, the sun's direction in relation to a spacecraft can be calculated. Solar sensors are simple devices whose low-cost design based on photodiodes can be developed by students. During the design and fabrication process of a solar sensor, one of the most important tasks is the accurate estimation of the sensor response in the space radiative environment. It is possible to simulate the Sun’s radiation spectrum, but the equipment and facilities needed are costly for a university project. In this paper, the design and calibration process of satellite solar sensors carried out together by students and teachers from the Master's degree in Space Systems (MUSE) from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid is described. The process uses a calibration method that calibrates the photodiodes for space use without simulating the Sun’s radiation spectrum in the laboratory

Resumen-El objetivo de PIRAMIDE ha sido potenciar los resultados académicos de los estudiantes de grado y máster mediante la investigación en ingeniería espacial. Este proyecto ha sido llevado a cabo por profesores del Instituto IDR/UPM y del grupo STRAST. El programa se estructuró en cinco estudios diferentes: 1) Diseño de una misión espacial (fase 0/A) en una Instalación de Diseño Concurrente (CDF); 2) Selección y estudio de un ordenador de a bordo para una misión CubeSat; 3) Metodologías de diseño inteligente aplicadas a la ingeniería gráfica; 4) Análisis de sistemas de potencia para aplicaciones espaciales; y 5) Diseño de un Subsistema de Control y Determinación de Actitud (ADCS) de una nave espacial. En el presente trabajo se analizan los resultados de realizar 5 encuestas a los alumnos para cada uno de los casos de estudio que componen PIRAMIDE y una encuesta al profesorado. Además, se incluye un análisis crítico con las lecciones aprendidas que podrían ayudar a diseñar mejores proyectos de innovación educativa en el futuro.