Pleiades-Maia is a satellite being developed by TXST as part of the Pleiades Five Program. This program is a multi-university collaboration between Cal Poly Pomona, Mt. San Antonio College, Northeastern University, UC Santa Cruz, Colombia University, and Texas State University. As part of this program, our university is developing a satellite (Pleiades-Maia) as part of a cluster of satellites with the other participating institutions.
This collaboration is led by Cal Poly, Pomona who designed the satellite bus we’re using. Their goal is to design a satellite kit that’s easy for institutions who aren’t experienced in satellite design and operations, to put together and integrate a payload. Our university is tasked with assembling their satellite bus design then implementing any scientific payload we wish. NASA is providing the launch for these satellites. The launch is projected for the first quarter of 2025.
For more information on the Pleiades Five program, you can download the PDF of our application to NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) from the link below.