MarmotSat Launch and First Contact

July 16th 2026

Author: Sian Friesen VE7TMF

After years of hard work, on Tuesday July 7th at 12:12 am PT, MarmotSat was successfully launched on the SpaceX Transporter-17 mission to low-earth orbit. The first pass of the satellite over its ground station at the University of Victoria occurred shortly after, where the team was able to contact the satellite and begin commissioning the bus right away.

First Contact Success - UVic Ground Station

Team Celebrates - UVic Ground Station

This is a major milestone, which opens a new phase in MARMOTSat’s life: in orbit operations. Commissioning is now under way, and the satellite bus and payload appears to be healthy. At the time of this post, a bit over a week after deployment and first contact, several major milestones have already been achieved, including regular ground station contact, orbit determination using on board GNSS, detumbling, the deployment of two solar panels, and the first picture taken on board.

First in orbit photo by MARMOTSat - Lake Victoria, Uganda (top); Undeployed HF antenna (left)

The satellite is now a Y-Thompson spin and the team is working to establish three axis pointing, the final step in the commissioning process. After that, payload operations will begin, with the gradual turn-on of the science and Amateur radio experiments on board. Stay tuned for more updates!