A few hundred kilometres above the Earth’s surface, a trio of microsatellites — each slightly bigger than a shoebox — perform surveillance experiments in Canada’s Arctic. Dubbed the Gray Jay Pathfinder Mission, it represents the first time Defence Research and Development Canada (Ottawa) has launched intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance demonstration satellites as part of their All Domain Situational Awareness Science and Technology Program.
The Gray Jay microsatellites travel in close formation, tracking the radiofrequency signals emitted by ships and aircraft below. Once they detect a target of interest, they relay the geolocation to a ground station and capture an image.
WATCH: Satellite trio will test new systems of monitoring in the High Arctic
The goal is to demonstrate and de-risk technologies for the Canadian Armed Forces and enhance national security by providing real-time data on vessel movement in Arctic skies and waters. To build them, the armed forces turned to Robert Zee’s Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) at the Microsatellite Science and Technology Centre.
Housed at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies and funded in part by the CFI, the $10 million centre boasts all the equipment required to research, design and develop the next generation of small satellites from concept all the way to launch.
“It greatly accelerated the ability to innovate and research and develop new space technologies,” says Zee. “Because everything is under one roof, it really reduces cost, and it also accelerates development by maybe an order of magnitude.”
Making satellites small but mighty
Since the Microsatellite Science and Technology Centre opened its doors in 2012, there has been exponential growth in the use of low-cost microsatellites. And Zee’s team of 15 to 20 graduate students and more than 70 professional staff has been at the forefront, contributing to nearly 100 missions for universities, governments and commercial enterprises around the world.
Each one has come with its own set of engineering challenges to tackle: challenges like designing advanced modular power systems and attitude controls for pointing instruments, ensuring onboard computers have enough storage capacity to handle data-intensive missions, and developing new propulsion technologies and approaches to thermal analysis.
The list goes on.
Indeed, SFL has proved so successful that it has led to the establishment of a private company, SFL Missions Inc., headed by Zee.
A lean approach to innovation
Zee attributes much of the lab’s success to a “microspace” development philosophy. The approach relies on small groups of tightly integrated people working together on the same site to develop a satellite on a very short schedule.
In the case of Gray Jay, for example, SFL didn’t just develop the satellites but conceptualized and designed the entire mission — its objectives, surveillance experiments, payloads, and so on. And thanks to their lean teams and streamlined process, they did it all for a fraction of the traditional price.
Since the surveillance demonstration satellites were launched in January 2025, they’ve been performing successfully, collecting data that SFL is now busy processing. Once the initial demonstration phase of the mission has wrapped up, the microsatellites will be used for further experiments related to intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance research and inform national defence decisions.
The research project featured in this story also benefits from funding from Defence Research and Development Canada.
