Missions
Space Lab develops space and near-space missions that fly real hardware and return real data. Our active satellite missions are below; the lab’s history of high-altitude balloon flights is documented under past missions.
Active
A 6U CubeSat that learns in orbit to control its own trajectory using differential drag and reinforcement learning — no propellant required. Funded under the UNP Mission Concept program.
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A CubeSat developed in collaboration with five universities through the Pleiades Five Program, launching with NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative.
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A NASA MUREP-funded curriculum — six hands-on CubeSat workshops broadening access to space-technology training for underrepresented students.
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A TubeSat carrying environmental and radiation sensors — the first satellite designed and built entirely at Texas State.
Read moreBefore the satellites came the balloons. From 2019 onward, students under Dr. Rangelov developed and launched a series of high-altitude weather balloon missions — including Icarus I, the lab’s first flight, and Helios-I, which reached 88,000 feet. These flights built the operational muscle and student team that the lab’s satellite work is now drawing on.
