UL Lafayette’s CAPE-4 pairs student satellite work with radiation research

UL Lafayette’s student satellite program has flown three spacecraft and is developing a fourth, the university reported in its August 25, 2026 statement. The next mission, CAPE-4, combines student-designed payloads with a radiation experiment, according to the engineering department’s mission page, checked September 16.

The page describes opportunities for K–12 students and partner universities to participate directly in CubeSat design. Its science payload would continue CAPE-3’s ARMOR experiment, which concerns an astronaut-wearable radiation meter, in collaboration with UL Lafayette’s physics department. Listed spacecraft systems include orientation control, a star tracker, power and radio equipment.

The public mission record still labels CAPE-4 “in development.” Its launch date, provider and departure site are all undetermined. That makes the project a continuing research and education effort, rather than a newly scheduled launch.

NASA’s March 30, 2023 selection announcement placed CAPE-4 among eight CubeSat missions chosen through its CubeSat Launch Initiative. NASA described the selected group’s anticipated launch period as 2024–2027 and identified CAPE-4’s purpose as developing building blocks for economical deep-space CubeSat experimentation. That cohort-wide window is not a flight manifest for this satellite.

Work on the ground has attracted separate support. Amateur Radio Digital Communications’ February 2024 grant record lists $10,718 to improve the university’s W5UL amateur radio station and support educational satellite operations.

ARDC’s description also sets ambitions for a CAPE-Twiggs project: student-built modules, involvement from 20 regional schools, and annual amateur-radio licensing goals of 15 school students and 15 college students. Those are the funded project’s targets, not a count of participation achieved.

Together, the records show several parts of the local space program: building the satellite, preparing its ground communications and introducing younger students to the work. The mission page supplies the clearest current boundary: CAPE-4 is still being developed, and its launch arrangements remain unlisted.