The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is one of three institutions selected to launch an educational payload aboard a Firefly Aerospace, Inc. rocket. Firefly expects the launch will take place as early as 2025.
Illinois’ DarkNESS CubeSat will look for a dark matter decay signature in the form of 3.5 keV X-rays emanating from the black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Using cryogenically cooled Skipper Charged-Coupled Devices developed by Fermilab, graduate student Phoenix Merrick Alpine is leading a team within the Laboratory for Advanced Space Systems at Illinois to complete a critical design review for the satellite this summer.
According to LASSI’s Director, Michael Lembeck, “the satellite will be the first to search for the source of dark matter using this novel technology for X-ray astronomy observations in low earth orbit.”
The educational payloads are part of Firefly’s Dedicated Research Education Accelerator Mission. The company began the DREAM program in 2019 to encourage students to develop an interest in science, technology, engineering, and math. The first round of DREAM payloads flew on Firefly’s Alpha FLTA001 rocket in 2021.
Lembeck said the partnership with Firefly eliminates the prohibitive cost of a launch and allows his students to focus on advancing their knowledge of small satellites and the work they can do in space.
The other two educational payloads are from the Florida Institute of Technology and students at the University of Florida and from Auburn University.