The Student Collaboration of the Interstellar Mapping And Acceleration Probe (IMAP) Mission: The 3UCubed CubeSat Project and Associated Space Science and Engineering Education
The goals of the Student Collaboration (StC) of the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) mission are to augment IMAP science return, develop hands-on research experience for students, and contribute to expanding participation and skills of undergraduate students in space science and engineering. This has been achieved through a collaborative hardware program involving three universities that resulted in students designing, building, assembling, integrating, testing, calibrating, and delivering a 3U CubeSat (3UCubed) to NASA for launch, and in building, updating, and testing ground stations to run mission and science operations. Post-launch through the NASA CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI), the students shall participate in joint data analysis of measurements from IMAP and 3UCubed. The IMAP StC has developed a strong recruitment and retention program that takes advantage of the expertise of the participating universities to bring numerous students to space-related science, technology, engineering, and mathematics degrees. The StC incorporated a comprehensive evaluation component to provide program evaluation on specific goals, demonstrating the overall success in student recruitment and retention, as well as expanding students’ knowledge of engineering and scientific skills and concepts. Here, we focus on the descriptions of the origin and objectives of the IMAP Student Collaboration, its pre-launch activities, and the lessons learned from the collaborative effort as well as the technical description of the CubeSat, including its payload.
Authors
- Walter E. Foster
- L. R. Cominsky (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2073-1065)
- L. M. Peticolas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4438-3504)
- A. Olufemi Williams
- Luke H. Bradley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1870-0796)
- Hilarie B. Davis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3727-9722)
- Tyrese Kierstdet
- Sabrina Blais
- Emily McLain
- Alex Chesley
- Jenna Burgett
- Mathieu Champagne
- Cristopher Gopar Carreno
- Erika Diaz Ramirez
- L. Bartolone
- Erik Castellanos-Vasquez
- Alexandria Walker
- Michaela Power
- Taran Richardson
- Jared King
- Christian Ballesteros Sánchez
- Matthew Gales
- Jeffrey Reedy
- Kennedi White
- Kelly Bisson
- Shane Woods
- Trinity Sager
- Jared Morrison
- Matthew Rollend
- Noé Lugaz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1890-6156)
- Onasis Mora
- Myles Pope
- Marcus Alfred
- M. Lessard (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9344-8688)
- Christopher Stewart (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6965-8271)
- A. T. Russell
- A. Mann
- Ruth Davis
- Sanjeev Mehta
- Kelsy Coston
- Jaela Whitfield
- Adri Jackson
- Casey Morrissette
- Christina Copeland
- Oshione Adams
- Eben Quenneville
- Aniyah Brunson
- Wilson Jean-Baptiste
- Jack Schneider
- Jennifer Ortiz
- Devin Phyllides
- Kaiden Bedell
- Brooklyn Blackwell
- Ashley Haynes
- Damian Fowler
- Alex Vasquez
- Carissma McGee
- Tony Rochman
- J. Garrett Jernigan
- Logan Rubalcava
- Sonya Smith
- Jonathan Perez
- Jayme Brannan
- Luis Casas Gatica
- Jack Dawson-Trujllo
- Sia Manna
- Jeffrey Grant
- Hanyu Jiang
- Anthony Santos
- Avash Budhathoki
- Douglas B. Clarke
- Nolan Juneau
- Oluwatamilore Ogunbanj
- Aaron John Estrada
- Haley Joeger
- Camren Conant
- Nassim Cooper
- Delaney Flynn
- MonTrell Nelson
Institutions
- Howard University (US)
- Sonoma State University (US)
- University of New Hampshire (US)
- Self Regional Healthcare (US)
- Advanced Technologies Group (United States) (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Space Science Reviews
- Published
- 2026-01-21
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-026-01269-8
- Primary Topic
- Spacecraft Design and Technology
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Nuclear Safety and Security Commission
- Science Mission Directorate