SPRITE (Supernova Remnants and Proxies for ReIonization Testbed Experiment) Launch

[abryant]

Hi all,

My name is Adrian Bryant, I am a graduate student at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

I am starting this topic for tracking the SPRITE CubeSat which is launching on Transporter-18. SPRITE is a CubeSat developed by the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP). It is a 12U CubeSat that will be furthering our understanding of how stars and supernova form. It will map shock emissions in supernova remnants and determine the escape fraction of hydrogen ionizing radiation from a selection of star-forming galaxies. If you’d like to learn more, see the website here.

Transporter-18 is slated to launch October 1, 2026 11:18 PT (according to SpaceX’s website).

I have built a decoder for SPRITE and am actively working on a telemetry dashboard to be posted when complete.

Best,

Adrian Bryant

[APichler]

Adding some info to this!

I’m Alex, the SmallSat Mission Ops Manager here at LASP. As you can see in the T18 launch manifest we’re first off the bus. Plan is for our UHF to turn on and start beaconing just under 15 mins after deploy, which should be around 19:27UTC over the western mediterranean!

[abryant]

Here is a more recent image of SPRITE

[bali]

@abryant

recent image

wondering what is this

[pu4elt]

2026-10-02 ~01:41UTC

SPRITE successfully received and demodulated during its first pass over Brazil !! Best of luck with the satellite mission, and maybe the team can consider an eQSL

BTW very very strong signals

[fojtp]

I guess, secondary mirror of the NVU telescope?

[APichler]

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