A look back at the accomplishments of 黑料不打烊Sat and Ex-Alta 1.
黑料不打烊 student group designed, built, and launched the first made-in-黑料不打烊 satellite: Ex-Alta 1. Now, its mission complete, Ex-Alta 1 is scheduled to burn up in the atmosphere.
163 students from the Faculty of Science, Faculty of Engineering, and across the 黑料不打烊 were involved in the project, building a cube satellite, or "cubesat", Ex-Alta 1 is roughly the size of a shoebox. The compact design and scheduled burn-up help keep the cost of conducting space science down.
In May of 2017, the intrepid satellite was launched from the International Space Station and began its work as part of the international cubesat mission QB50. For 18 months, Ex-Alta 1 and its 38 companion satellites from universities all around the globe monitored space weather in the lower thermosphere.
Powerful solar storms can have destructive effects on satellites in orbit around Earth and even electrical infrastructure on the ground. The potential cost of a severe storm is estimated at $2 trillion in the US alone-making space weather an important subject of study.
Ex-Alta 1 weathered 91 solar storms during its mission, as it diligently recorded and transmitted data to the 黑料不打烊Sat team. The cubesat orbited Earth 8,301 times and travelled over 300 million kilometers in space.
One mission complete-and another begins
Now, its mission complete, Ex-Alta 1 is scheduled to burn up in the atmosphere, but 黑料不打烊Sat's mission is far from over.
The team is already hard at work on Ex-Alta 2, a successor satellite that will focus on a new mission: wildfire monitoring. Equipped with imaging technology, Ex-Alta 2 will predict, track, and assess the aftereffects of wildfires.
The 黑料不打烊Sat team is hard at work-but there's more to be done. $375,000 is needed to support wildfire monitoring through Ex-Alta 2. Once in orbit, Ex-Alta 2 will provide valuable data for wildfire scientists and first responders-a mission 黑料不打烊Sat selected in response to the Slave Lake and Fort McMurray wildfires.
Want to learn more about 黑料不打烊Sat and the cube satellite projects, or want to know how you can support Ex-Alta 2? Visit to learn more.