Phoenix Satellite Initiative

Thank you for your interest in the Phoenix Satellite Initiative! We are a group of interdisciplinary undergraduate students at Arizona State University working together to design, build and launch a CubeSat (miniaturized satellite) into space in 2018. Funded by NASA, the purpose of the mission is to study the effects of urban heat islands in multiple cities, including Phoenix.

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In 2018, the Phoenix CubeSat will hitch a ride into space as cargo load

from one of NASA's own rockets. It will be taken to the International Space Station and will be deployed from there to begin its mission of capturing satellite images of urban heat islands in select cities. Phoenix's onboard computers will be initialized, solar panels will be deployed to charge the batteries, and antennas will begin communicating with the ground station. 

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Phoenix will spend approximately one year orbiting the Earth, utilizing a reaction wheel system to allow the satellite to rotate while keeping the camera focused on the target cities on Earth. At the same time, the CubeSat's antennas will need to stay pointed towards the ground station in order for the captured images to download. Once the year is up and the mission is complete, Phoenix will fall back to Earth and burn up in the upper atmosphere. Keep an eye on the sky, and you may see Phoenix as a shooting star!

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To learn more about Phoenix's mission, click the button below.

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