New Brunswick satellite VIOLET has been in space since March. With no response from the satellite and days before it vaporizes in Earth’s atmosphere, researchers aren’t giving up.
“We’re making every effort we can to communicate with VIOLET before it will re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere,” Troy Lavigne, one of the program’s project officers, said.
He said the satellite was launched with two others as part of the Canadian Space Agency’s Canadian CubeSat Project.
The University of New Brunswick’s research team wasn’t able to identify which one was VIOLET early on, and two have already vaporized — meaning they have a one in three chance that the remaining satellite is VIOLET.
According to Lavigne, theories around why VIOLET isn’t sending back messages range from transmission challenges to a solar storm that may have damaged it.
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