Missions
Current Projects
REALOP I
Estimated Launch Date: Summer 2026
Mission: Investigate a low cost alternative to traditional reaction wheels.
Designed in house, REALOP I is SSS's first CubeSat with the goal to break down some of the financial barriers that keep teams from experimentation via CubeSats.
We have an official launch contract with NASA to put REALOP into low Earth orbit.
University Rover Challenge (URC)
Mission: Create a Mars Rover to Compete in the 2027 University Rover Challenge.
URC aims to expand robotics at UC Davis starting in Fall 2025. The goal is to create a Mars Rover complete with a suspension drive base, chassis robotic arm, communication system, and scientific measurement tools.
Enabling SSS to gain valuable industry skills in controls, autonomous movement, manufacturing, PCB design, firmware, and much more.
Unmanned Aerial Systems
Mission: Create Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) for URC and help train the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC).
UAS is a drone project with two purposes. The first being to create a drone to support the rover in URC (see above).
The second purpose is to support the UC Davis ROTC with simulated drone warfare, helping them prepare for modern combat.
Past Missions
FAR
Project from 2022
Mission: Work with RPL at UCSD to test the robustness of a new mechanical structural configuration.
MAPS
Project from 2019
Mission: Design a cost effective and sustainable 2-story inflatable greenhouse for martian agriculture.
QuARCS
Project from 2018
Mission: Observe efficiency of satellite-transceiver/transmitter interactions and Dopper Shift between QuARCS and Iridium.
CanSat
Launched in 2016
Mission: Launch a CanSat to sample atmospheric air composition and obtain images of Earth's surface.
Interested in Helping Out Space and Satellite Systems?
Want to help build our next mission? Turn your curiosity into real projects? Work on a project you get to launch to space?
Then join the Space and Satellite Systems Club!
Join us Today!
