01/09/2026
ASU’s SPARCS CubeSat: Tiny Telescope, Big Science—Launching Jan 11!
A tiny space telescope about the size of a cereal box is set to make big discoveries. The Star Planet Activity Research CubeSat (SPARCS), built at Arizona State University in collaboration with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will launch January 11 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Space Force Base. SPARCS will study ultraviolet light from flares and starspots on red dwarf stars—key hosts of potentially habitable exoplanets—helping scientists understand how stellar activity shapes planetary atmospheres and the prospects for life beyond Earth.
Read More : https://news.asu.edu/20260108-science-and-technology-asu-built-cubesat-sparcs-spacex-launch-weekend
Watch the Launch
Three missions – SPARCS (Arizona State University), BlackCAT (Pennsylvania State University) and Pandora (Goddard Space Flight Center), are set to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Sunday, Jan. 11, at 6:19 a.m. Arizona time (5:19 a.m. Pacific Standard Time, 8:19 a.m. Eastern).
SpaceX will livestream the launch, with a live webcast beginning about 15 minutes prior to liftoff. Watch the broadcast on the Space X website or through X at .
ASU Space Grant participants involved in the project
Current ASU Space Grant Interns
Alec Arcara
Tyler Nielson
ASU Space Grant Alum
Genevieve Cooper
Gabriela Roig
Space Grant ASCEND
Alejandro Reyes Villas
Space Grant Mentors
Danny Jacobs
Judd Bowman
Joe Dubois
A small space telescope roughly the size of a family cereal box — having cleared its pre-shipment review by NASA last spring — is now at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, where it will be readied for launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4E for a Twilight mission.
