Russian Soyuz-2 rocket will be used to launch UKube-1, which is a device made by Clyde Space, based at West of Scotland Science Park in Maryhill Glasgow.

The rocket will be launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. This is the same base one from where Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had set off on the first manned space flight back in 1961.

Clyde Space Chief Executive Craig Clark reported that a very dedicated and hard working team has gone into the making of UKube-1. The £150,000 satellite hence formed is the size of a shoe box and its purposes will be to provide service for smartphones.

Recently Andrew Strain, Vice-President, Engineering, had gone to Kazakhstan where he supervised the integration of UKube-1 on to the rocket at Launch Site 31. He had gone there to check that the satellite that was shipped out six months ago is still in a healthy state or not.

Revenue from UKube-1 will be derived by using the first GPS device aimed at measuring plasmaspheric space weather along with an installation of a camera that will be used to take images of the earth so as to test the effect of radiation on space hardware.

Mr. Clark said, "The tiny spacecraft we specialize in are analogous to the smartphones of the computer industry; they are capable bits of kit and we expect them to be a major part of providing services from space in the near future".