PHASMA is LSF’s two-satellite mission that flies PHASMA-LAMARR and PHASMA-DIRAC, each a 3U CubeSat tasked with detecting and characterising terrestrial and space-borne RF emissions in UHF and S-band. On-board AI processes spectrum data to identify interference sources and help track orbital objects, directly advancing Space Situational Awareness.
What LSF does
LSF led the full mission design, integration and operations at its Athens facility: bus structure, power, ADCS, the open-source SatNOGS-COMMS transceiver (flown at TRL 9), the RF-spectrum payload with antenna, the FPGA-based signal processing chain, the FDIR architecture and the ground segment built on SatNOGS. Every subsystem and the operations software are published openly; environmental testing was performed at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.
Where we’re going
PHASMA demonstrates that a fully open-source mission can deliver operational SSA and spectrum-monitoring capability at a scale previously reserved for closed institutional programmes, cementing LSF’s position as Europe’s reference open-source space developer and preparing a reusable platform for follow-on missions.
Where the project stands
Both satellites launched 2025-11-28 18:44:30 UTC on SpaceX Falcon 9 Transporter-15 via Exolaunch; both in nominal sun-synchronous orbit at ~97.4° inclination and operational as of 2026-04 with transmitters downlinking data via the SatNOGS Network.
Milestones
- 2022 — ESA esa11498 contract signed
- 2023-2024 — Design reviews (PDR, CDR) and subsystem qualification
- 2025-03/04 — EQM assembly, integration and environmental test campaign
- 2025-06/07 — Flight Model AIV and full testing
- 2025-07-29 — Delivered to Exolaunch Berlin
- 2025-11-28 — Launched on SpaceX Falcon 9 Transporter-15; both satellites acquired and operational
- 2026-04 — Ongoing spectrum-monitoring operations
Links
- Project page
- Mission update (2025-11-12)
- ESA CSC announcement
- SatNOGS DB (PHASMA-LAMARR)
- SatNOGS DB (PHASMA-DIRAC)
- Community thread
License
Hardware: CERN-OHL v2; Software: GPL-3.0 / AGPL (SatNOGS-COMMS)