BIRDS Satellite Project

BIRDS is Kyushu Institute of Technology’s multinational satellite-development programme, connecting successive CubeSat projects with spacecraft testing, ground stations and in-orbit operations. Participating teams build practical national capabilities through complete satellite lifecycles and shared engineering heritage. BIRDS-1 produced five common-design 1U spacecraft for Japan, Ghana, Mongolia, Nigeria and Bangladesh, supported by a seven-country ground-station network. All Nations University developed GhanaSat-1, while NASRDA and the Federal University of Technology Akure collaborated on Nigeria EduSat-1. Later BIRDS-5 spacecraft included Uganda’s PearlAfricaSat-1 and Zimbabwe’s ZIMSAT-1. The continuing BIRDS-RPM project, also called Kumo, develops a 3U successor using lessons from earlier generations. Each generation retains its own spacecraft identities, participating institutions and technical objectives.