CU Boulder-built small satellites reach orbit
Three CU Boulder small satellites launched to orbit this spring.
Designed, built and tested on campus, all three projects are led by Robert Marshall, an associate professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences.
“I’m very proud of the entire team,” Marshall said. “I don’t know how to describe it, going from the idea of a mission, to a proposal, then construction, resolving problems along the way, and now getting to launch.”
More than 60 undergraduate and graduate students have been part of the construction process.
The satellites are serving separate missions. The AEPEX and CANVAS satellites are each engaged in space weather research. The COSMO satellite is conducting high accuracy measurements of Earth’s magnetic field for global navigation.
The AEPEX satellite will study energetic electrons entering Earth’s atmosphere that impact atmospheric ozone balance and satellite communications. Photo: Jesse Petersen
Principal investigator
Robert Marshall
Funding
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); National Geospatial- Intelligence Agency MagQuest Competition; U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF)
Collaboration + support
CU Boulder’s Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Cooperative Institute for Research In Environmental Sciences (CIRES), Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP)