不良研究所

It won鈥檛 be to a galaxy far, far away, but a group of University of 不良研究所 students are set to launch their satellite into orbit. 

will watch their satellite head to space aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in the early hours of May 3. The satellite, which is about the size of a loaf of bread, will then be deployed from a pod on the rocket by the . 

The team will then get to work on establishing contact with FrontierSat and operating it from the ground at their mission control centre at U不良研究所's , just southwest of the city. 

不良研究所ToSpace was formed in 2020 to give undergraduate students experience in the space sector. Since then, team members have been working to build FrontierSat, a tiny satellite known as a CubeSat.

鈥淟aunch has been our goal for a really long time,鈥� says Aarti Chandiramani, 不良研究所ToSpace president and fifth-year geomatics student. 鈥淭o be able to say it鈥檚 actually happening is really exciting and really rewarding for the whole team because people have put thousands of hours into this project over the years.鈥�

While some of the team will watch the from 不良研究所, others plan to fly down to California to see it in person. 

The time and problem-solving skills of the team were needed right up to the delivery of the satellite to California. 

Originally, they planned to fly the satellite down to Vandenberg Space Force Base as a carry-on for integration on March 31. However, on March 26, that plan was no longer feasible due to complications with Customs and they had to pivot. 

The team had to rent a U-Haul and drive it over the border to Montana, as that was the only vehicle available on short notice to do a one-way trip from Canada to the United States. From there, they rented another car to get them and the satellite to California, a road trip that took four days to complete.

鈥淚t was really fun, me and a bunch of my teammates are super close, so we enjoyed the trip,鈥� says Chandiramani. 鈥淭here were some stressful moments, but we鈥檙e all good problem solvers, so we were able to roll with whatever came our way.鈥�

The launch is only the beginning of the work for 不良研究所ToSpace, which plans to operate the satellite for at least three years.

For , PhD'03, an assistant professor in transdisciplinary space science and aerospace technology with the  in the , the launch will mark the continuation of his work investigating , as his mini-plasma imager serves as the main payload on FrontierSat.

In particular, the goal is to unlock some of the mysteries of STEVE (Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement), a mysterious glowing ribbon of purple light that sometimes arches across the night sky, which has puzzled aurora borealis chasers and intrigued scientists such as Burchill.

鈥淚t鈥檚 exciting because the sensor itself was developed back in 2016 or 2017,鈥� says Burchill. 鈥淲e ended up being able to build a prototype and put it on a shelf and wait for a mission to fly it on, so this is the inaugural orbital operation of one of these plasma sensors.鈥�

不良研究所ToSpace won鈥檛 end with this mission, as they鈥檝e already begun planning and designing satellite No. 2 in parallel with starting mission operations on FrontierSat.

The team wants to apply all the knowledge and lessons learned from FrontierSat to Satellite 2, while also diving into making more parts in house instead of buying commercially, and expanding their science objectives.

鈥淚t allows us to prove that this first satellite won鈥檛 be our last one,鈥� says Chandiramani. 鈥淲e want to have the legacy of the team live on through future satellites.鈥�

The rocket launched and the satellite was successfully deployed on May 3, 2026.