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CubeSTEM MissionLabCubeSTEMMissionLab

CUBESTEM MISSIONLAB

Let your students run a CubeSat mission.

From Grade 6 to university, learners use the same spacecraft model at increasing academic depth — making predictions, running missions, interpreting evidence and making engineering decisions.

Run a guest missionExplore the learning pathway

Learning pathway

One spacecraft. Increasing academic depth.

Grade 6, Grade 7, Grade 8, Grades 9–10, Grades 11–12 and University learners use the same Digital Twin. Language and controls change. The underlying spacecraft model does not fork.

  1. 01 · ML-A Explorer

    Grade 6

    Observe & Explain

  2. 02 · ML-A Explorer

    Grade 7

    Control & Compare

  3. 03 · ML-A Explorer

    Grade 8

    Design & Justify

  4. 04 · ML-B Builder

    Grades 9–10

    Calculate · Model · Compare · Test

  5. 05 · ML-C Engineer

    Grades 11–12

    Analyse · Program · Evaluate · Optimise

  6. 06 · ML-D Mission Systems

    University

    Design · Integrate · Verify · Validate

Learners predict, run, compare evidence, explain and decide.

Every mission follows one teacher-guided product journey. Readiness is local and formative; completion is possible at any formative band and is not qualification.

  1. 01Mission
  2. 02Preparation
  3. 03Readiness
  4. 04Operate
  5. 05Evidence
  6. 06Complete
  7. 07Recognition

What they learn

Ten Mission Learning Outcomes. These are CubeSTEM competency descriptors, not an accredited syllabus mapping.

  1. 01

    Systems Thinking

  2. 02

    Measurement & Data

  3. 03

    Physics & Mathematics

  4. 04

    Modelling, Dynamics & Control

  5. 05

    Computing, Telemetry & Communications

  6. 06

    Engineering Inquiry, Test & Verification

  7. 07

    Orbit & Mission Operations

  8. 08

    Payload, Information & Mission Value

  9. 09

    Evidence & Technical Communication

  10. 10

    Teamwork, Safety & Professional Practice

12 mission families

The academic structure covers twelve families. Every runnable surface remains a pilot pending educator review.

  1. 01

    First Contact & Spacecraft Systems

  2. 02

    Sensors, Telemetry & Data Quality

  3. 03

    Electrical Power & Energy Management

  4. 04

    Attitude, Motion & Reaction Wheels

  5. 05

    Feedback, Estimation & Control

  6. 06

    Communications & Ground Link

  7. 07

    Orbit, Ground Track & Contact Planning

  8. 08

    Payload / Imaging / Mission Data

  9. 09

    Thermal & Environmental Constraints

  10. 10

    Faults, Diagnosis & Recovery

  11. 11

    Integrated Mission Operations

  12. 12

    Model-versus-Hardware Verification / Capstone

15 mapped experiences

All fifteen experiments exist in the frozen academic catalogue. Thirteen runnable pilot missions cover fourteen experiments; MLX-12 is clearly mapped but does not yet have a lesson.

  • MLX-01

    Deployment to First Contact

    Pilot lesson

  • MLX-02

    Read the Spacecraft

    Pilot lesson

  • MLX-03

    Power the Mission

    Pilot lesson

  • MLX-04

    Command the Spacecraft Attitude

    Pilot lesson

  • MLX-05

    Stabilise the Spacecraft

    Pilot lesson

  • MLX-06

    Establish and Protect the Link

    Pilot lesson

  • MLX-07

    Find the Next Pass

    Pilot lesson

  • MLX-08

    Plan the Payload Observation

    Pilot lesson

  • MLX-09

    Survive the Environment

    Pilot lesson

  • MLX-10

    Configure the Spacecraft

    Pilot lesson

  • MLX-11

    Diagnose and Recover the Mission

    Pilot lesson

  • MLX-12

    Operate the Mission End to End

    Mapped · lesson unavailable

  • MLX-13

    Write a Safe Mission Policy

    Pilot lesson

  • MLX-14

    Prove the Model Against Evidence

    Pilot lesson

  • MLX-15

    Attitude Changes How Much Sunlight Becomes Energy

    Pilot lesson

Two recommended Grade 7 starting missions

MLX-15 and Orbit–Pass–Link are the recommended classroom-pilot starting points, not the only runnable missions. All 13 are teacher-guided, software-only pilots pending educator review and classroom evidence.

Pilot lesson

Point the spacecraft. Change the power.

Does the way a spacecraft faces change how much electricity its solar panels make?

The energy and battery numbers are produced by a model. Nothing here was measured on a real spacecraft.

Open recommended Grade 7 mission

Pilot lesson

Find the pass. Plan the contact.

When can a ground station see the satellite — and does seeing it mean you got the data?

Everything you see is calculated by a model. No radio signal was received and no data was downloaded.

Open recommended Grade 7 mission
Browse all 13 runnable pilot missions

Tracked ≠ signal received ≠ data decoded

What the teacher does

Brief the Mission, guide Preparation, confirm local Readiness, facilitate Operate, review Evidence, support reflection and Complete, then explain the local Recognition record. Guest missions require no student account, LMS, official grading, or hardware.

School

Clearer language, bounded controls, teacher-guided evidence, same underlying physics and models.

University

Deeper quantitative analysis, provenance and V&V, subsystem integration, and engineering limitations.

Same spacecraft. Completely different academic depth.

MissionLab School

Two ways to run it

Both use the same spacecraft model and the same missions. What differs is whether a learner’s work persists and who can assess it.

Open Practice

Run missions without an institution. Account-free where the route supports it, and the learner's work stays in their own browser.

  • No institution and no class are required.
  • Account-free on the routes that support it.
  • Work stays in the learner's browser where a local record is implemented.
  • Nothing is uploaded into a School record automatically.
  • Useful for trials, demonstrations, teacher exploration and ordinary lessons.
Try Open Practice

Managed School

A class runs one exact released Grade Programme. Assigned work and submitted evidence persist, a teacher assesses them, and released feedback reaches the learner.

  • An institution and a class provide the context.
  • Learners join through authenticated or pseudonymous institutional enrollment.
  • The class runs one exact released Grade Programme.
  • Work the learner intentionally submits becomes a persistent institutional submission.
  • A teacher assesses that work and decides when feedback is released.
See Managed School

Open Practice work is never uploaded into a Managed School record automatically. There is no import between the two.

First school pilot · Open Practice trial

How we would start with a school

A teacher-guided, software-only Grade 7 trial for 10–15 learners, preferably in pairs. Two sessions of about 55–70 minutes. This trial runs as Open Practice: no student account, official grade, or hardware required, and the learner’s work stays in their browser rather than entering a School record. A school that wants persistent submissions and released teacher feedback uses Managed School instead. The reusable lesson shell supports the trial but does not replace the required educator review or manual classroom evidence.

  • Session 1: Attitude → Sunlight → Energy
  • Session 2: Orbit → Pass → Ground Link

Evidence: prediction, observation, engineering decision, one model limitation, reflection, and a pre/post concept check.

Start with the Grade 7 missionSee both recommended starts

Current, mapped, and later

  • Available today: academic framework, six depths, 13 runnable pilot missions, teacher-guided school pilot plan.
  • Mapped but unavailable: MLX-12 only.
  • Under later validation: classroom usability and educator feedback.
  • Optional now: supervised KidSAT demonstrations. Formal Twin correlation remains commissioning work.
Advanced / existing workspaces

Earlier engineering workbenches remain available and unchanged. They are not the school-facing flagship story.