D.avide Nejoumi, 23, is a very talented, very enterprising student from Rome. After graduating from high school he asked himself: «But why do I have to choose between university and other things? I want to do everything! ». He was right: he enrolled in Engineering but did not shut himself up with books: he founded the start up Delta Space Leonis and in May he signed an agreement: in 2023 his PocketQube satellite will be launched into orbit with SpaceX, the company of Elon Musk, from an American base – probably in Florida. A truly incredible feat. How did it get there? He tells us about it.
Davide Nejoumi, 23, the Roman student who will launch his satellite for Elon Musk.
«After high school I passed the entrance test in Mechanical Engineering, but shortly after I responded to a call for civil service at the INAF, the National Institute of Astrophysics, where they were looking for young people to disseminate in schools. I entered in December 2017 and stayed there for a year; during breaks from work, I came into contact with the world of research, e from there my passion for space was born. In 2018 I participated in the Lazio Region call for “I’ll be right back” which finances projects for young people: I asked to study Chinese in China and I won. I left for Shanghai in 2019 and when I returned to Italy I participated in another call by the Lazio Region dedicated to the winners of “I’ll be right back”. In this new announcement, “Training enterprise”, the idea of a start-up was asked to be presented. Like this I presented the idea of a start up on pico satellites, that is, pocket satellites measuring 5 × 5 cm“.
Student agreement to launch satellites with Elon Musk
In November 2020, the good news: Davide finished first in the ranking. At that point, they asked him to present a business plan; he got help, he introduced him and obtained a loan of 100 thousand euros, “Which may seem like a lot but in this sector they are not,” he says. Delta Space Leonis was born in April 2021, which was blocked for a few months due to the hacking that hit the Lazio Region. Finally, in November, Davide and his 5 employees (2 aerospace engineers, 1 economist, 1 computer engineer and 1 maker) attended the Aerospace & Defense Meetings fair in Turin, where they exhibited the PocketQube satellite prototypes.
The PocketQube format satellites, which will be launched into orbit by student Davide Nejoumi, for Elon Musk
There was the turning point: «The Indian company ToSpace, from the Tamil Nadu region, noticed us. They had an investor who paid for a launch for Space X, but they didn’t have the satellite, so they turned to us. In May we signed the agreement and we immediately got to work ».
At the end of July the test with a launch in Piedmont
The appointment is for the end of 2023, when Delta Space Leonis in America will launch its satellite into orbit, probably from Florida. “The rocket should be a Falcon 9, which will come back after launch,” adds Davide. In the meantime, however, the next step is the test campaign: “We will start at the end of July in Piedmont with a stratospheric launch that will allow us to climb with a balloon to 20/30 km of altitude: we will see if the satellite holds up, if it transmits data, since its purpose is to communicate. We are waiting for the permits for the flight ».
Meanwhile Davide he left Mechanical Engineering in favor of Aerospace, also at the La Sapienza University of Rome: «I’m a little behind, I study in my free time. But this opportunity happens once in a lifetime and I can’t let it slip away “.
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