LEONIRD, the Low Earth Orbit Near-Infrared Device, is MIT Satellite Team’s flagship mission for our CubeSat program. Our long-term vision is to advance atmospheric science through near-infrared (NIR) solar occultation and limb sounding. The mission aims to observe Earth's atmosphere during orbital sunrise and sunset to enable high-resolution measurements of atmospheric trace gases.
To reach this objective, the program follows an incremental development approach, validating key technologies and operational capabilities through progressively more complex flight demonstrations before deploying the full science mission.
In Spring 2026, we completed a high-altitude balloon (HAB) flight that demonstrated flight computer integration, telemetry, tracking, recovery, and flight operations. Building on these results, the next milestone is LEONIRD I, a 1U technology demonstration satellite designed to validate the avionics, communications, ground station, flight software, and mission operations architecture required for future CubeSat missions. The team is currently targeting launch readiness for Spring 2028.
Following LEONIRD I, LEONIRD II will further mature the technologies and mission concepts needed for the program's planned 6U atmospheric science mission. Centered on atmospheric trace gas measurements using a compact near-infrared spectrometer and solar occultation, the 6U mission is currently targeting a Spring 2029 launch and represents the culmination of the LEONIRD technology development roadmap.