M³

M³ · USIP

The Undergraduate Student Instrument Project (USIP) is a part of the NASA Science Mission Directorate intended to challenge U.S. universities to develop their technical and project management skills. The Multi-Mode Mission M³ project will integrate an experimental thruster, being developed by the Missouri S&T Advanced Plasma Lab in partnership with Froberg Aerospace and its CEO Dr. Steven Berg, into a 3U CubeSat structure in order to get in-flight performance data. The team is working towards its flight-ready unit which is expected to be finished Summer 2023 and be launched in January 2024.

M³ Timeline

September 2016 M-SAT joins NASA’s Undergraduate Student Instrument Project (USIP)

November 2016 Requirements Review

April 2017 Preliminary Design Review (PDR)

January 2018 Conceptual Design Review (CDR)

Summer 2018 Range Readiness Review (RRR)

Fall 2018 Flight Readiness Review (FRR)

Summer 2019 Critical Design Review (CDR)

December 2019 Begin Integration

Summer 2023 Flight Ready