Launching Dreams into Orbit: The Da Vinci Satellite Student Team's Odyssey

Last updated: July 12, 2026

Picture this: you and 99 other students are building a satellite. Not a model for a science fair. An actual satellite, headed for actual orbit. That's daily life for the Da Vinci Satellite student team at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, Delft University of Technology.

The project kicked off in 2019, sparked by the anniversary of their study association (aptly named 'Leonardo da Vinci'). The mission: get young people curious about space flight, and pull it off within a brisk 1 to 1.5 years. No pressure.

Of course, a hundred students can't work as one giant huddle. The team splits into nine squads, each with its own specialty, coordinated by a small management crew. Here's the lineup:

Technical Teams:

1. Payload: Designing and building the satellite's instruments.
2. Electronics: Making sure the satellite's electrical systems do their job.
3. Software: Developing the satellite's control software.
4. Testing and Integration: Breaking things on the ground so they don't break in orbit.
5. Ground Station: Handling communication with the satellite.
6. Operations & Systems: Overseeing overall mission planning.

Educational Teams:

1. Primary School: Crafting educational programs for younger students.
2. High School: Inspiring older students with the wonders of space.

Business Teams:

1. Finance: Managing project funds.
2. External Relations: Building partnerships.
3. Public Relations: Spreading the word about their mission.

The Quest Before Quire

Before they stumbled upon Quire, the Da Vinci Satellite team had a bumpy ride with project management software. MeisterTask, their old buddy, couldn't keep up. Its free version had all the oomph of a deflated balloon, not offering much beyond basic task management.

With a crew as vast and diverse as this one, smooth management is the name of the game. They needed software that could handle the load.

What they needed was clear enough: one home for the work, and a way to see it on a timeline. Task lists alone weren't cutting it anymore; a satellite launch runs on dates, not vibes.

And with an education mission running alongside the engineering one, the right project management software wasn't a nice-to-have. It was the thing holding both halves together.

The actual problem was less glamorous than rocket science: information kept going missing. To-do lists lived in one app, timelines in another, meeting notes in a third. Nine squads, three tools, zero single source of truth.

Shopping for a replacement, they kept hitting the same two walls:

1. The tools that had the features they needed, like timelines, wanted serious money for them.
2. The affordable ones capped team size, which is a problem when "the team" is a hundred people spread across nine squads.

Quire: The Cosmic Intersection

The search involved plenty of online research and a lot of asking around at TU Delft. In the end, it was fellow student team 'Tumbleweed' who pointed them to Quire. It checked all their boxes, and a few they hadn't thought to draw.

The free plan sealed it. Student teams run on sponsorships and stubbornness, so a tool that doesn't charge them for existing is an easy yes.

Coming from MeisterTask, Todoist, and Excel, the big win was timelines for everyone, no matter the team size and at no extra cost. (Yes, Excel. Every team has an Excel era.)

Right now, the management crew is taking Quire for a spin, gearing up for a Student Free Program rollout that'll bring in the whole gang. The scattered islands of data across their current tools? Those are getting retired for good.

Migration is on the agenda: the data moves into Quire, the managers set up the sub-projects, and the nine squads follow suit.

For the team, Quire's job description is short: be the one place where the entire launch effort lives, from payload specs to primary-school lesson plans.

They don't have hard numbers yet (satellites first, dashboards later), but the confidence is there. Less lost information, one shared picture, everyone on the same page. 🚀

Their wishlist? More customization. As the Student Free Plan reaches the whole team, they're keen to see everything Quire can do for the launch ahead.

"By using your software we can streamline our work and make it more efficient. Allowing us to achieve even more within the team. Also ensuring that no information is lost and that everyone is on the same page whilst working."

Ready for Cosmic Success

The Da Vinci Satellite team started with a vision, outgrew three tools, and found a co-pilot in Quire. Free plan, timelines without team-size limits, and one home for nine squads' worth of work: the cosmic dream now has a concrete plan underneath it.

The launch itself is still ahead, and we'll be watching from the ground with everyone else. As they keep tailoring Quire to their needs, that stellar goal looks less like a dream and more like a schedule.

So, stay tuned for more updates from this ambitious crew as they aim to inspire and educate generations about the wonders of space exploration!