The Educational Irish Research Satellite 1 or EIRSAT-1 mission was proposed in response to the European Space Agency (ESA) FYS2 (Fly Your Satellite System 2) call. The proposal was led by University College Dublin (UCD), in collaboration with Queen's University Belfast. The satellite project was one of six selected to go forward in the ESA FYS program in May 2017. The mission passed its PDR (Preliminary Design Review) with both institutions involved. Since CDR (Critical Design Review) in 2018, the mission has been developed and implemented by UCD with the support of ESA Education. The project aims to build, launch and operate the first Irish satellite in space.