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About the lab

Student-operated satellite and space research team at Northeastern University. Students are trained in space systems engineering and design/analysis skill-sets to build and operate Cube Satellites and Ground Terminals from the ground up.

Who we are

NSL started in 2020 as Project Horizon, a satellite team within AeroNU, Northeastern’s aerospace club, and became its own club in Spring 2026. The club is run by a management team of 10 undergrads and supported by our faculty advisor, Dr. Josep Jornet, the Associate Dean of Research in the Northeastern College of Engineering. We’re also backed by a small but dedicated group of satellite club alumni.

The atrium of Northeastern’s ISEC building, with its helix staircase
The ISEC atrium, Northeastern University.

What is a CubeSat?

A CubeSat is a small-satellite standard developed at Cal Poly. CubeSats are measured in units (a “1U”) of 10×10×10 cm, with a maximum mass of 2 kg per unit, and usually range from 1U to 12U. They launch as secondary payloads or straight from the International Space Station, and are built mostly from commercial off-the-shelf parts. We use grants and programs like NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative to launch ours.

Originally developed in 1999 as an educational tool, CubeSats have grown into a platform used by universities, startups, and space agencies to conduct science, test new technology, and enable commercial applications at a fraction of the cost of traditional satellites. Because the bus is so standardized and can support many kinds of payloads, they’re far cheaper to build and launch. That opens up access to space for organizations that previously couldn’t afford it.

Line drawing of 1U, 3U, and 6U CubeSats to scale. One unit is a 10 cm cube.1U10 × 10 × 10 cm3U10 × 10 × 30 cm6U20 × 10 × 30 cm30 cm
Common CubeSat sizes, to scale. TeraLink-1 is a 6U.

Teams

Every member joins at least one. Each team meets once a week; times are on the This Semester page.

  • Hardware

    Mechanical and electrical engineering for spacecraft and ground hardware. Mechanical members CAD in SolidWorks and Onshape, build with 3D printers, laser cutters, and CNC in EXP and the AerospaceNU back lab, and run structural, thermal, and frequency analyses. Electrical and embedded members design PCBs and dev boards, test and validate space hardware, and write firmware.

  • Software

    Flight and ground-station software: sensing, control, imaging, and compression algorithms, plus satellite communication, networking, and scheduling systems, tested and merged across every mission subsystem. This semester’s goal is a working FlatSat by January.

  • Simulations

    Orbital and mission simulation with tools like FreeFlyer and Systems Tool Kit, scientific computing to verify mission and system architecture, and Python or MATLAB/Simulink models to test algorithms, kinematics, and control loops.

  • Business

    Finding and winning competitions and proposals from NASA, AFRL, IEEE, and more; reaching out to researchers and institutions; logistics, operations, and finance; merch and branding; and recruitment campaigns and community engagement.

What we’re for

  1. Secure, fund, and build satellite projects

    We partner with Northeastern research groups to win more space contracts: we do the spacecraft; they do the science.

  2. Build an aerospace talent network

    A strong, cohesive aerospace engineering network between students, faculty, and alumni.

  3. Foster the space community

    Connecting space organizations at and beyond Northeastern: NU research groups, local aerospace companies, Boston space meetups, SmallSat, and more.

  4. Put space on the map at NU

    Growing NSL’s presence on campus, so every student who wants to build a spacecraft knows where to find us.

Where you’ll find us

We present our work at conferences and meetups every year:

  • SmallSat Conference, Utah
  • Boston Space Network
  • Ivy Space Conference
  • New Space Age Conference, Boston

Know an event we should go to? Tell us.

Alumni and advisors

A small group of satellite-club alumni mentors current members, and our faculty advisor is Dr. Josep Jornet, Associate Dean of Research in the Northeastern College of Engineering. The network stays with members after they graduate.

Members and alumni have gone on to:
  • MIT Lincoln Laboratory
  • SpaceX
  • Blue Origin
  • Draper
  • MITRE
  • RTX
  • General Dynamics Electric Boat
  • Space Dynamics Laboratory
  • Specter Aerospace
  • Shield AI
  • Morse Corp
  • Kostas Research Institute
  • Robotics and AI Institute
  • Tesla
  • Akamai
  • Stripe
  • Wayfair
  • Fidelity Investments
  • Notch
  • bionet
  • FBI
  • Harvard Medical School
  • Stanford University
  • Stanford HAI
  • Northeastern INSI