Earth:FrontierSat

From HandWiki
FrontierSat
NamesCTS-SAT 1
OperatorCanada University of Calgary
COSPAR ID2026-100D
Websitewww.calgarytospace.ca/cts-sat-1
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type3U CubeSat
Start of mission
Launch date3 May 2026, 7:00 UTC
RocketFalcon 9 CAS500-2 rideshare mission
← ISTSat-1
 


Short description: Canadian satellite focused on atmospheric science
STEVE over Alberta, August 2015

FrontierSat is an atmospheric science and technology demonstration space mission in the form of a 3U CubeSat-type small satellite.[1] The spacecraft was developed by "CalgaryToSpace", a team of University of Calgary students.[2][3][4][5][6][7] Its development was supported by University of Calgary, the Canadian Space Agency,[8] and the European Space Agency's Fly Your Satellite! program.[9][10] The satellite was launched on May 3, 2026 on the Falcon 9's CAS500-2 rideshare mission.[11][12][13][14][15][16] Once in orbit, it successfully started transmitting beacon data.[17]

Payload

FrontierSat carries two payloads.[10] The Mini Plasma Imager (MPI), based on the Thermal Ion Imager (TII)[18] instruments of ESA's Swarm mission, is designed to study the aurora-like STEVE phenomenon.[19] The camera-monitored Deployable Composite Lattice Boom (DCLB) will test boom deployment technology.[8][20][21][22]

Mini Plasma Imager

The Mini Plasma Imager (MPI) flown on FrontierSat was developed at the University of Calgary. It is a charged-particle anemometer. Within the instrument, an electrostatic analyzer sorts incoming ions by their kinetic energy per unit charge. An IonCCD, a form of charge-coupled device, detects the ions. The instrument outputs 32 frames per second, generating a raw telemetry stream of approximately 5100 bytes per second.[23]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Kulu, Erik. "FrontierSat" (in en). https://www.nanosats.eu/sat/frontiersat.html. 
  2. ↑ "UCalgary team prepares to launch city's first student-built satellite | News | University of Calgary" (in en). 2025-06-05. https://ucalgary.ca/news/ucalgary-team-prepares-launch-citys-first-student-built-satellite. 
  3. ↑ Melgar, Alejandro (2025-08-13). "Calgary's first student-built satellite to launch in 2026" (in en). https://calgary.citynews.ca/2025/08/13/calgarys-first-student-built-satellite-launch-2026/. 
  4. ↑ Kajal, Kapil. "Student-built satellite to study rare atmospheric phenomenon in space" (in en). https://interestingengineering.com/space/calgarys-first-student-built-satellite. 
  5. ↑ Fieldberg, Alesia (2025-06-18). "Satellite built by Calgary students expected to launch into space this fall" (in en). https://www.ctvnews.ca/calgary/article/satellite-built-by-calgary-students-expected-to-launch-into-space-this-fall/. 
  6. ↑ "CalgaryToSpace" (in en). https://github.com/CalgaryToSpace. 
  7. ↑ Fieldberg, Alesia (2026-05-06). "‘So surreal’: University of Calgary students celebrate as their satellite orbits earth" (in en). https://www.ctvnews.ca/calgary/article/so-surreal-university-of-calgary-students-celebrate-as-their-satellite-orbits-earth/. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Arnett, Kelsea (11 August 2025). "Eyes on the sky: Calgary's first student-built space satellite gets ready for liftoff". CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-student-satellite-1.7602403. 
  9. ↑ "From Canada to Belgium, the CalgaryToSpace team completes a vibration test campaign" (in en). https://www.esa.int/Education/Educational_Satellites/From_Canada_to_Belgium_the_CalgaryToSpace_team_completes_a_vibration_test_campaign. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Teams selected for the October 2024 test window of Fly Your Satellite! Test Opportunities" (in en). https://www.esa.int/Education/Educational_Satellites/Teams_selected_for_the_October_2024_test_window_of_Fly_Your_Satellite!_Test_Opportunities. 
  11. ↑ "UCalgary, we have liftoff: Team set to launch city’s first student-built satellite into orbit to study STEVE | News | University of Calgary" (in en). 2026-04-30. https://ucalgary.ca/news/ucalgary-we-have-liftoff-team-set-launch-citys-first-student-built-satellite-orbit-study-steve. 
  12. ↑ "CAS500-2 Mission" (in en). https://www.spacex.com/launches/cas500-2. 
  13. ↑ "CAS500-2 & Others | Falcon 9 Block 5 | Next Spaceflight" (in en). https://nextspaceflight.com/launches/details/8213/. 
  14. ↑ Day, Eleanor (2026-05-03). "SpaceX launches CAS500-2 and 45 other payloads to Sun-synchronous orbit" (in en-US). https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2026/05/spacex-launch-cas500-2-45-payloads-orbit/. 
  15. ↑ Boucher, Marc (2026-05-04). "SpaceX deploys seven Canadian satellites on CAS500-2 mission, marking University of Calgary’s first" (in en-US). https://spaceq.ca/spacex-deploys-seven-canadian-satellites-on-cas500-2-mission-marking-university-of-calgarys-first/. 
  16. ↑ Maták, Juraj. "Družice". http://www.kozmo-data.sk/druzice/detail/2026-100/. 
  17. ↑ Initiative, Kaiden Brayshaw-Local Journalism (2026-05-05). "Calgary’s first student-built satellite is officially in orbit" (in en-US). https://livewirecalgary.com/2026/05/05/calgary-student-built-satellite-orbit/. 
  18. ↑ Burchill, Johnathan K.; Knudsen, David J. (2022-12-09). "Swarm Thermal Ion Imager measurement performance" (in en). Earth, Planets and Space 74 (1): 181. doi:10.1186/s40623-022-01736-w. ISSN 1880-5981. Bibcode: 2022EP&S...74..181B. 
  19. ↑ Burchill, Johnathan; Beer, Kaleigh; Borges, Victor; Desai, Ravindra; Ivchenko, Mykola; Knudsen, David; Rupprecht, Chase; Sarris, Theodoros et al. (2026-03-14) (in en). Innovative Measurements of Auroral Geophysics for Education and Research (IMAGER) (Report). Copernicus Meetings. https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU26/EGU26-13271.html. 
  20. ↑ MacDonald-Gauthier, Rory (2025-10-15). "FrontierSat delay reinforces Canada's push for sovereign launch" (in en-US). https://spacebahd.ca/canadian-space-news/frontiersat-delay-reinforces-canadas-push-for-sovereign-launch/. 
  21. ↑ Alaieva, Liliia (2025-08-13). "CalgaryToSpace student satellite: FrontierSat will help simulate space weather" (in en-US). https://universemagazine.com/en/calgarytospace-student-satellite-frontiersat-will-help-simulate-space-weather/. 
  22. ↑ Okpara, Chibuike (2025-08-14). "Student-built satellite set to study a rare and mysterious cousin of Aurora Borealis and Australis" (in en). https://www.notebookcheck.net/Student-built-satellite-set-to-study-a-rare-and-mysterious-cousin-of-Aurora-Borealis-and-Australis.1086959.0.html. 
  23. ↑ CalgaryToSpace. "Mini Plasma Imager (MPI)" (in en). https://github.com/CalgaryToSpace/CTS-SAT-1-Wiki/wiki/Mini-Plasma-Imager-(MPI). 

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