Ex-Alta 2

Ex-Alta 2 [University of Alberta]

Ex-Alta 2 (Experimental Albertan 2) is a Canadian 3U-CubeSat designed by the Department of Physics of the University of Alberta.

Ex-Alta 2's mission is:

• to expand the Uinversity of Alberta's open-source platform to include open-source satellite software, electronics, and mechanical designs to increase Canadian and global access to space.
• to evaluate an imaging instrument designed to collect data for predicting, tracking, and monitoring the impact of wildfires on vegetation and land. Iris is a multispectral imaging payload. Iris will contain two optical sensors that will collect scientific data in the blue, red, near-infrared, and short-wave infrared wavelength bands. We hope to demonstrate the ability to collect scientifically useful data for wildfire research in the visible and near-infrared and short-wave infrared bands from a CubeSat platform using this instrument.
• to fly a digital flux-gate magnometer based on Ex-Alta 1's design, which is a device designed to monitor and better understand the effects of space weather on our communications systems.
• to fly a MIDI audio transmission setting that will be used for outreach activities..

It is part of a constellation consisting of three satellites: Ex-Alta 2, YukonSat, and AuroraSat. Together, they form a common mission referred to as the Northern SPIRIT Consortium.

The satellite is to be launched onboard of Dragon CRS-27 towards the ISS, from where it will be deployed.