Ex-Alta 1 (Experimental Albertan 1) is a Canadian 3U-CubeSat designed by the Department of Physics of the University of Alberta participating in the QB50 project.
Ex-Alta 1 carries a digital fluxgate magnetometer for the University of Alberta and the multi-Needle Langmuir Probe (mNLP) payload for QB50.
The Ex-Alta 1 Satellite has the following science objectives:
- Serve as a platform for the In Orbit Demonstration (IOD) of a digital fluxgate magnetometer designed at the University of Alberta.
- Address multi-point space plasma physics with data from the QB50 constellation using the Langmuir probe common payloads and the digital fluxgate magnetometer.
- Take part in the QB-50 string-of-pearls constellation for in-situ measurements of the lower thermosphere to build an accurate model.
The QB50 project, which demonstrates the possibility of launching a network of 50 CubeSats built by Universities Teams all over the world to perform first-class science in the largely unexplored lower thermosphere.
The satellites of the QB50 constellation were launched to the ISS in mid 2016, from where the satellite was deployed on 26 May 2017.
.png)
