Lesson 6 of 7 · Canadian CubeSat Project
Canadian CubeSat Project: learn the whole mission by building one
8 minute lesson · 3 checks along the way
Your goal for this lessonExplain how the Canadian CubeSat Project connected student education with flight hardware, scientific objectives and operations.
In this lesson 3 sections · 3 checks
Using archive links & definitions
Follow a linked name to explore its archive card. “Back to your lesson” brings you to the same part of the reading.
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Read & understand
Make education part of a real mission
The Canadian CubeSat Project was announced in April 2017, with astronaut Thomas Pesquet inviting participation from the International Space Station. CSA selected proposals and awarded fifteen grants in 2018. The program offered post-secondary students and professors experience designing and building miniature satellites, supported by agency and industry expertise. Its objectives combined scientific or technical work with learning skills useful across the space sector.
A CubeSat’s compact format does not remove the need for systems engineering. Its must share power, space, communications and operating time with the spacecraft’s supporting equipment. Students also need a way to receive and interpret data. The educational experience therefore extends from defining a question through construction, testing and operations, rather than ending when an attractive box is assembled.
Check 1 of 3
10 pointsUse the reading above. You can try again without losing points.
Read & understand
Connect an actual payload with its research question
RADSAT-SK, developed through the University of Saskatchewan team and partners, provides a concrete example. Its planned radiation research included a dosimeter board and a fungal-melanin coating on part of the board. The stated aims were to investigate lower-cost radiation measurement and the feasibility of shielding. These were experiment objectives, not conclusions established merely by preparing the spacecraft for launch.
NASA’s June 28, 2023 station report identifies RADSAT-SK among the satellites in the NRCSD-26 deployment cohort. The photograph of closed deployers documents preparation aboard the station; it does not show the internal experiment or prove that it returned the intended data. Launch transport, deployer installation, release, first contact and successful measurements are separate milestones that should be tracked separately.
Stephen G. Bowen prepares the NRCSD-26 deployment equipment aboard the ISS on June 28, 2023. NASA identifies RADSAT-SK among this cohort’s satellites. The spacecraft remains inside the closed equipment and is not individually visible; the picture does not show its radiation experiment or prove its results.
Look closely
Which later evidence would establish the student experiment’s scientific outcome?
See what to notice
Deployment and contact records establish flight milestones; returned measurements, calibration and analysis establish what the experiment found. The preparation photograph alone cannot supply those results.
Check 2 of 3
10 pointsUse the reading above. You can try again without losing points.
Read & understand
Preserve knowledge as the student team changes
A student mission can last longer than an individual student’s degree. Future operators need understandable procedures, interface descriptions, software versions and explanations of earlier decisions. A working prototype with no usable documentation can leave the next team unable to interpret a fault or repeat a test. Handover is therefore a practical mission capability as well as an educational skill.
Imagine a fictional radiation experiment with two sensor channels. If their labels are accidentally swapped in the ground software, the team could reverse its interpretation of the comparison even though both sensors transmit data. An end-to-end test with a known input can expose the mismatch before flight. The Canadian CubeSat Project makes this relationship tangible: successful learning includes finding errors, documenting limits and connecting a physical measurement to a defensible scientific claim.
Check 3 of 3
10 pointsUse the reading above. You can try again without losing points.
Put it together
Your lesson progress
Each check connects to a part of the story. Complete all 3 to earn your 25-point lesson bonus.
Explore further · Optional
Go to the source
Explore the evidence behind this lesson. These optional readings and videos open in a new tab.
- Read: CSA: Canadian CubeSat Project origins and objectivesThe 2017 announcement and 2018 awards are historical. Old future-tense deployment forecasts are not treated as actual outcomes.
- Read: University of Saskatchewan: RADSAT-SK research goalsThe prelaunch announcement establishes student participation and intended radiation research, not completed experiment results.
- Read: NASA: June 28, 2023 CubeSat deployment preparationThe installation report identifies the six-spacecraft cohort, including RADSAT-SK. Planned later deployment and satellite operation are separate events.