Seven teams of university students were selected to fly their CubeSats on the maiden flight of ESA's Vega launch vehicle. Romania participated in this mission with Goliat, a standard cubesat of 100 x 100 x 100 mm3.

The objective to develop a microsatellite mission was included in the national space programme. The Romanian Space Agency and the Romanian Institute of Space Science provided the team with institutional, technological and financial support through a national grant.

Goliat aimed to increase knowledge about the radiation and micrometeoroid environments in low Earth orbit, by using SAMIS, an impact sensor (will count micrometeoroid impact events and measure their energy in order to estimate their number and speed) and DOSE-N, a detector designed to measure the total dose of radiation inside the satellite. The 3 megapixel digital camera CICLOP tested the possibility of using picosatellites to monitor surface features for agricultural, administrative and disaster monitoring purposes, as well as for public outreach.

Goliat also integrated sub-systems for basic functioning, such as: board computer, power unit, radio communication system, system for altitude determination and control.

The team also developed the ground infrastructure required for radio communication and for operating the satellite located in Magurele, Ilfov and Marisel, Cluj.

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