Space and time: Final countdown for U of A students building Ex-Alta 2 satellite

After five years of work, the team of University of Alberta students building a wildfire-tracking satellite is in crunch mode as the deadline nears to deliver it to the Canadian Space Agency.

Ex-Alta 2, a cube-shaped satellite weighing less than three kilograms, will carry a camera — called IRIS — that will take images of current active wildfires and affected areas after the fires are out. It will also carry a magnetometer that will measure Earth's magnetic field, allowing the satellite to study space weather.

The satellite and most of its equipment have been designed and built by the U of A's AlbertaSat team.