# Interplanetary Student Nanospacecraft: Development of the LEO Demonstrator ESTCube-2
## 6 Conclusions  
This paper describes the design and development process of the ESTCube-2 nanosatellite. The payload description, the mechanical structure of ESTCube-2, its compact avionics stack electronics, and the software development approach have been detailed. As of May 2023, the ESTCube-2 satellite has been completed, tested, and prepared for launch onboard the VEGA-C VV23 rocket. The ESTCube-2 project has been fully developed and led by doctoral, master, and bachelor students, mainly from the University of Tartu. During the development of the satellite, the ESTCube team dealt with many technical, management, and leadership problems. The \"learn-by-doing\" has been the main slogan of the team since the beginning of the ESTCube-2 project. This paper outlined the main takeaways of the technical, management, and leadership lessons, which are useful for system engineers, project managers, and team leaders. In hindsight, some but not all of the problems we faced could have been solved by a standardized approach to project development. Nevertheless, this helped the core team of students to receive accelerated career training where they had to learn and grow together with the project by making mistakes and finding the most optimal solutions in various disciplines. Conceptualization: J.D., H.E., E.I., P.J., P.T., B.S. and A.S.; funding acquisition: I.I., P.J., M.N., M.P., A.S., B.S., A.T. and H.T. ; project administration: A.S., M.N. and H.T. ; software: J.D., K.A., H.E., E.I., I.S. and H.T. ; supervision: B.S., M.N. and A.S.; visualization: J.D., I.L, P.T. and A.S.; writing--original draft: J.D., H.E., P.J., J.K., M.M., B.S. and A.S.; and writing--review and editing: I.I., E.I., B.S., A.S. and P.T. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. The Tartu Observatory, the University of Tartu, the European Regional Development Fund, and the expertise pole CENSUS of Paris Observatory at PSL University France supported the research and development for this article. The ESTCube-2 was developed using the laboratory facilities of Tartu Observatory and funded by the TT8 and KosEST projects. The contributions of [PERSON], [PERSON], and more than 500 crowdfunding backers are very much appreciated for funding the development of ESTCube-2 [30]. The Earth Observation payload camera development was partially funded by 28,000 EUR fundraised during the'sTARTUp Day from Enterprise Estonia. The financial support for partial ESTCube-2 hardware development was received from Estonian gaming, fintech, and blockchain company Yolo Group. Captain Corrosion OU funded the development of the corrosion materials testing module, receiving additional funding from Enterprise EstoniaDevelopment Voucher (Project EU51950). The Laboratory of Thin Film Technology, Institute of Physics, University of Tartu, prepared the coatings for the corrosion testing module with the help of Estonian-Ministry-of-Education-and-Science-funded projects IUT2-24 and TK141. The European Union supports the satellite launch of LEO on board Arianespace's Vega-C rocket in cooperation with the European Space Agency via the In-Orbit Demonstration and Validation (IOD/IOV) initiative. **Data Availability Statement:** Not applicable. **Acknowledgments:** The lead author would like to thank [PERSON], [PERSON], [PERSON], and [PERSON] for their invaluable personal and mental support during the development of this paper. The authors would like to thank volunteers and industry partners who have contributed to the development of the ESTCube-2. **Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no personal or financial conflict of interest. **Abbreviations**  
The following abbreviations are used in this manuscript: