2026 results
The 2026 edition of SatLink took place at the Instituto Tecnológico de Pabellón de Arteaga (ITPA) on Wednesday, October 28, 2026. Launches began from 22:00 (Central Mexico time).
Three probes flew. Two transmitted telemetry over the PiCARO project's LoRaWAN network and appear on the map. The probe from the Universidad Tecnológica del Norte de Aguascalientes (UTNA) flew without telemetry over the network.
Temperature, pressure and humidity: sensors inside the capsule, not outside air. Central Mexico time (UTC−6). Base map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
What the map shows
Each point is a telemetry packet with a position that the network received. Tap it to see:
- Time of reception.
- The probe's GPS altitude.
- Temperature, pressure and humidity inside the capsule. Neither probe measured the outside air: the sensors were inside. That is why Orbitium read 18 °C at 8.4 km, where the air is estimated at about −23 °C.
- RSSI and SNR: how strong and how clean the signal was when it arrived.
- Number of gateways that heard that packet (one, two or three).
The map also marks Orbitium's recovery point, in El Rascón, Zacatecas.
What flew
| a) Orbitium (Sci-Fi) probe | b) TAES probe | |
|---|---|---|
| Institution | Instituto Tecnológico de Pabellón de Arteaga (ITPA) | Instituto Tepeyac (high school) and Universidad Politécnica de Aguascalientes (UPA) |
| LoRaWAN class | C | A |
| Position | every 10 min | every ~30 s |
| Liftoff (estimated) | 22:37:04 | 22:53:18 |
| Maximum altitude | 8,478 m | 5,065 m |
| End of flight | cutdown by radio command | timed cutdown by its own system |
| Uplinks received in flight | 95.9% | 94.3% |
a) Orbitium (Sci-Fi) probe, from ITPA
- It flew highest: 8,478 m. That altitude was validated with pressure and with the other probe's GPS.
- It responded to commands until the cutdown. It flew in Class C. All 10 Marco Polo commands sent in flight before the cutdown got a response.
- It did not burst: it was cut down by radio. The cutdown command arrived at 23:21, at 8,478 m, 43.7 min after its firmware detected liftoff.
- It reached far. The network heard it 31.6 km from the campus gateways and about 50 km from the lab in Aguascalientes, about 27 km south of ITPA.
- It was recovered. Residents of El Rascón, Zacatecas, found the capsule and reported it on October 29. It was 942 m from its last fix and 32 km from the campus.
b) TAES probe, from Instituto Tepeyac and UPA
- It was built by a joint high school and university team.
- It produced the most detailed profile of the night. It sent its position every ~30 s: 82 valid fixes in flight. The wind profile and the estimated air temperature come from them.
- It reached 5,065 m. It rose at 3.57 m/s up to 4,345 m, stalled for about 6 min and then rose again.
- It released itself. Its timed cutdown fired at around 23:29:30, at about 4.7 km. The cutdown shows up as a change in its vertical speed.
- It also reached far. The network heard it 24.7 km from the campus and about 51 km from the lab.
c) Comparison
- Neither reached 15 km, and both rose more slowly than expected: 2.49 m/s for Orbitium and 1.86 m/s for TAES, versus the roughly 5 m/s assumed.
- Both were tracked for the whole flight. Neither had a gap of more than one lost packet.
- Three gateways are better than one. With only the best gateway, 9.2% of Orbitium's uplinks and 12.6% of the TAES uplinks would have been lost. With all three, the loss was 4.1% and 5.7%.
- Both drifted northeast. The wind came from the south and veered to the southwest with height. Orbitium drifted 31.6 km and TAES 24.8 km.
The full analysis, with all the numbers, is in the SatLink 2026 technical report. The Orbitium and TAES teams authorized publishing their probe's name and their flight data.