FrontierSat

FrontierSat
NamesCTS-SAT 1
OperatorCanada University of Calgary
COSPAR ID2026-100D
SATCAT no.69015Edit this on Wikidata
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

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. The spacecraft was developed by "CalgaryToSpace", a team of University of Calgary students. Its development was supported by University of Calgary, the Canadian Space Agency, and the European Space Agency's Fly Your Satellite! program. The satellite was launched on May 3, 2026 on the Falcon 9's CAS500-2 rideshare mission. Once in orbit, it successfully started transmitting beacon data.

Payload

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

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.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Kulu, Erik. "FrontierSat". Nanosats Database. Retrieved 2026-04-30.
  2. ↑ "UCalgary team prepares to launch city's first student-built satellite | News | University of Calgary". ucalgary.ca. 2025-06-05. Retrieved 2026-04-30.
  3. ↑ Melgar, Alejandro (2025-08-13). "Calgary's first student-built satellite to launch in 2026". CityNews Calgary. Retrieved 2026-04-30.
  4. ↑ Kajal, Kapil. "Student-built satellite to study rare atmospheric phenomenon in space". Interesting Engineering. Retrieved 2026-04-30.
  5. ↑ Fieldberg, Alesia (2025-06-18). "Satellite built by Calgary students expected to launch into space this fall". CTVNews. Retrieved 2026-04-30.
  6. ↑ "CalgaryToSpace". GitHub. Retrieved 2026-04-30.
  7. ↑ Fieldberg, Alesia (2026-05-06). "'So surreal': University of Calgary students celebrate as their satellite orbits earth". CTVNews. Retrieved 2026-05-18.
  8. 1 2 Arnett, Kelsea (11 August 2025). "Eyes on the sky: Calgary's first student-built space satellite gets ready for liftoff". CBC News.
  9. ↑ "From Canada to Belgium, the CalgaryToSpace team completes a vibration test campaign". www.esa.int. Retrieved 2026-04-30.
  10. 1 2 "Teams selected for the October 2024 test window of Fly Your Satellite! Test Opportunities". www.esa.int. Retrieved 2026-04-30.
  11. ↑ "UCalgary, we have liftoff: Team set to launch city's first student-built satellite into orbit to study STEVE | News | University of Calgary". ucalgary.ca. 2026-04-30. Retrieved 2026-05-03.
  12. ↑ "CAS500-2 Mission". SpaceX. Retrieved 2026-04-30.
  13. ↑ "CAS500-2 & Others | Falcon 9 Block 5 | Next Spaceflight". nextspaceflight.com. Retrieved 2026-05-03.
  14. ↑ Day, Eleanor (2026-05-03). "SpaceX launches CAS500-2 and 45 other payloads to Sun-synchronous orbit". NASASpaceFlight.com. Retrieved 2026-05-03.
  15. ↑ Boucher, Marc (2026-05-04). "SpaceX deploys seven Canadian satellites on CAS500-2 mission, marking University of Calgary's first". SpaceQ Media Inc. Retrieved 2026-05-04.
  16. ↑ Maták, Juraj. "Družice". Kozmonautika. Retrieved 2026-05-08.
  17. ↑ Initiative, Kaiden Brayshaw-Local Journalism (2026-05-05). "Calgary's first student-built satellite is officially in orbit". LiveWire Calgary. Retrieved 2026-05-08.
  18. ↑ Burchill, Johnathan K.; Knudsen, David J. (2022-12-09). "Swarm Thermal Ion Imager measurement performance". Earth, Planets and Space. 74 (1): 181. Bibcode:2022EP&S...74..181B. doi:10.1186/s40623-022-01736-w. hdl:1880/115575. ISSN 1880-5981.
  19. ↑ Burchill, Johnathan; Beer, Kaleigh; Borges, Victor; Desai, Ravindra; Ivchenko, Mykola; Knudsen, David; Rupprecht, Chase; Sarris, Theodoros; Spanswick, Emma (2026-03-14). Innovative Measurements of Auroral Geophysics for Education and Research (IMAGER) (Report). Copernicus Meetings.
  20. ↑ MacDonald-Gauthier, Rory (2025-10-15). "FrontierSat delay reinforces Canada's push for sovereign launch". spacebahd - Canadian Space News. Retrieved 2026-04-30.
  21. ↑ Alaieva, Liliia (2025-08-13). "CalgaryToSpace student satellite: FrontierSat will help simulate space weather". Universe Space Tech. Retrieved 2026-04-30.
  22. ↑ Okpara, Chibuike (2025-08-14). "Student-built satellite set to study a rare and mysterious cousin of Aurora Borealis and Australis". Notebookcheck. Retrieved 2026-04-30.
  23. ↑ CalgaryToSpace. "Mini Plasma Imager (MPI)". GitHub. Retrieved 2026-05-26.