Mexican Satellite Gxiba-1 to Launch From Japan on Oct. 20

The Mexican satellite Gxiba-1, designed at Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla (UPAEP), is scheduled to launch on Oct. 20 at 8 p.m. local time in Mexico (Oct. 21 at 11 a.m. in Japan). The launch will take place from the Tanegashima Space Center, one of the southernmost islands in the Japanese archipelago, under the coordination of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

“We received the news that our satellite will be launched. It is scheduled for Oct. 21 at 11 a.m. in Japan, which corresponds to Oct. 20 at 8 p.m. in Mexico. However, a rocket launch can be modified at any time for meteorological or technical reasons, and if so, the launch would be postponed,” said Eugenio Urritia, Director of Aerospace Projects, UPAEP. 

According to Urrutia, the project involves multiple academic teams. The structural system was responsible for ensuring the satellite’s electronic components met JAXA’s requirements. In the coming months, mission operations and the ground station team, both led by women, will take on intensive tasks. “Basically, those two systems are going to be working intensely in the next few months,” he explained.

The satellite’s main mission is to monitor ash dispersion from active volcanoes in Mexico, particularly Popocatépetl. Gxiba-1 is expected to operate in orbit for approximately one year.

The work with JAXA demanded a higher level of compliance than UPAEP’s prior experience with NASA, Urrutia noted. “The Japanese protocol is hyper-detailed; nothing can be left without review. This guarantees safety in the launch and operation inside the International Space Station, where astronauts live. For us, it is a source of pride to have met those standards.”

The development of Gxiba-1 has also become a training ground for students from multiple disciplines, beyond aerospace engineering. Fields such as mechatronics, bionics, industrial engineering, and electronics have contributed to the project.

Gxiba-1 is the second orbital device developed at UPAEP. The first, AztechSat-1, was launched with NASA support on Dec. 5, 2019, and placed into orbit from the International Space Station (ISS) in February 2020