Satellite Team
The Satellite Team has been active since 2016 and specializes in developing CubeSats—from concept and design through integration, testing, and on-orbit operations. Team members gain hands-on experience in subsystem engineering, including payload definition and instrument integration, as well as bus design, power distribution, and on-orbit communications.
HUCSat Tracker
Follow the real-time position of HUCSat using the satellite tracker developed by the team.
Satellite tracker coming soon
HUCSat Mission
HUCSat is Harvard College’s inaugural CubeSat, launched in April 2026 and deployed from the International Space Station in July 2026 through NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI). The mission’s primary objective is to demonstrate a novel shape-memory-alloy (SMA) solar array deployment mechanism, a technology that could enable more compact, cheaper, and reliable satellite designs in the future. The satellite is expected to remain operational through the end of 2027, during which time the team is actively downlinking telemetry and science data using its on-campus ground station atop the roof of Harvard’s Science and Engineering Complex (SEC). This mission builds on years of student-led development at Harvard and helped set up the foundation for the team’s future CubeSat missions.
Launch Trip!
We sent a group of alumni and students to Kennedy Space Center where they got to see the launch of the NG-24 Cargo Supply mission aboard the Falcon-9, meet with other cubesat teams, and visit the VAB.
Harvard John. A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences video of our HUCSat Launch
HUCSat Deployment off of the International Space Station
Satellite Team Members Spring 2026
