YukonU CubeSat was a student lead initiative with the Canadian Space Agency. CubeSat commenced development in 2018 with a team of Yukon students in partnership with teams at Aurora College (AuroraSat) and the University of Alberta (Ex-Alta 2), together forming the Northern SPIRIT Consortium. Early in the project, teams workshopped ideas for the satellite payload (what the satellite will be equipped to do), and then worked to develop those payloads and the CubeSat ‘buses’ that will carry them. Students gained experience working as a team through the engineering design process. YukonSat along with the two other Northern SPIRIT CubeSats was transported to the Internations Space Station in March 2023, and launched in May 2023. Unfortunately, after launching, the satellites did not establish communication with ground control. It was theorized that the malfunction occurred either due to low battery status after a lengthy storage period, or due to damage from solar storms to the electronics at launch. Although the Northern SPIRIT teams worked to trouble shoot the problem, a successful connection was not made. The CubeSats, which were only due to be in orbit and function for approximately 6-18 months, eventually fell out of orbit and were destroyed upon entry as expected. It was a disappointing end to the project, but many students at the three Northern SPIRIT Consortium institutions gained valuable experience in engineering design and robotics over the course of the project.
YukonSat is scheduled to be transported to the International Space Station in March 2023, for deployment from the station in May. Once deployed, the satellite will have two interactive features. The first is a robotic arm with a camera capable of photographing the satellite, the Earth, and other celestial objects within view of the satellite. As part of this payload a small LED screen is to be mounted to the fuselage of the spacecraft in view of the camera. Photographs and artwork contributed by Northerners as part of the mission’s outreach and education mission will be displayed in space and the camera on the robotic arm will take a photo of the displayed screen image with the backdrop of space and send it back down to us earthlings.
The second feature is a radio broadcast of short audio clips of Northerners sharing stories, experiences, or interesting facts about the North. The radio signal will be receivable in Canada’s south and various other places across the globe with equipment commonly used by amateur radio enthusiasts able to receive the broadcast bands. The recordings will also be available to hear on the YukonU project website. Audio clips will be 60-90 seconds each, with three or four uploaded for broadcast at a time, and the uploads will be changed throughout the projected 18-month operation of the satellite.
Current mission status: YukonSat was deployed in May 2023 from the International Space Station. Unfortunately, the satellites never established communication with ground control, believed to be because of low battery levels or damage from solar storms during launch.