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MIT Satellite Team

Projects

Our projects give students technical ownership and real constraints. Click a project to see more.

Payload

ETHER

Cryogenic propellant mixing payload aimed at reducing temperature stratification inside cryogenic tanks and enabling near zero boil-off.

Status: In development View details →
CubeSat

LEONIRD I/II

Two-phase CubeSat program centered on solar occultation trace-gas mapping, with an outreach component.

Status: In development View details →
Training

Training & prototyping

Ramp-focused efforts where students learn subsystem fundamentals and documentation practices that translate to flight missions.

Ongoing View details →
Payload

ETHER – Cryogenic propellant mixing for zero-boil-off

Goal: Reduce temperature stratification inside cryogenic propellant tanks to enable near zero boil-off.

ETHER is a flight-oriented payload effort aimed at validating novel propellant-mixing baffles via a subscale tank experiment in low Earth orbit. The work spans hardware design, modeling, controls, electrical, and test execution.

Skills you will build: SolidWorks, CFD-based thermal and fluid modeling, cryogenic tank and baffle design, low-TRL hardware prototyping, microgravity fluid and heat-transfer analysis, experiment design, and cross-disciplinary spacecraft systems integration.

Technical subteams: Communications, Controls, Data Management, Electrical, Structures, Testing and Manufacturing, Systems Engineering, Science.

Media

Images, videos, and drawings can be added here.

Resources
CubeSat

LEONIRD I/II – Solar occultation trace-gas mapping CubeSat

Core mission concept: A solar occultation trace-gas mapping CubeSat that measures key atmospheric pollutants including ammonia, methane, and nitrous oxide using a compact FT-NIR spectrometer that collects vertical profiles at sunrise and sunset.

Secondary objective: Establish an intercollegiate undergraduate CubeSat outreach challenge where partner universities design visible ground targets or installations for being imaged from orbit.

Phase I (rapid path): A quick-turnaround 1–3U CubeSat built using an open-source framework, with an intended timeline on the order of 1–1.5 years.

Phase II: The follow-on mission that matures the full LEONIRD concept and capabilities.

Current near-term work: Orbital planning and target area selection; hardware and software prototyping.

Media

Images, videos, and drawings can be added here.

Resources
Training

Training and prototyping

Alongside flight projects, we run training-focused prototyping efforts to ramp new members quickly. These efforts are where students learn subsystem fundamentals, hardware-software integration, and documentation practices that directly translate to our flight missions.

Media

Images, videos, and drawings can be added here.

Resources