Ã…AC Microtec has begun assembly of Europe's first Space Plug-and-Play Avionics (SPA) compatible satellite, QuadSat-PnP in preparation for launch into space later this year. Figure 1 shows an artist impression of the spacecraft.

"This marks a significant step for the Space Plug-and-Play Avionics (SPA) community since we're getting close to launch of a fully SPA compatible spacecraft. It also introduces our Rapid Integration Architecture (RIA) library of PnP components and defines our spacecraft system capabilities" says Dr Fredrik Bruhn, vice president of space & defense at Ã…AC.

Figure 1. Artist impression of QuadSat-PnP (courtesy of University of Applied Sciences in Bremen).