A group of University of Saskatchewan students developing the province’s first cube satellite is getting closer to sending their project into orbit. The team has successfully completed a critical design review of the satellite with the Canadian Space Agency and the construction of the first satellite-grade clean room in the USask College of Engineering building.

For the past three years, more than 100 USask undergraduate and graduate students have been part of the mission to design, build, and launch the small satellite, entirely designed by the student team, with minimal faculty oversight.

The satellite is expected to launch in late 2022, making it Saskatchewan’s first satellite in space. During the one year it will spend in orbit, it will validate a new kind of radiation sensor and test an experimental radiation blocking compound – both developed by researchers at USask.

To date, the team has raised $100,000 for the project, which supplements a $200,000 grant from the Canadian Space Agency.