Argentine Satellite Joins NASA Mission to Return Humans to the Moon

By Estudio Chaloupka

Argentina is set to play a role in the next chapter of lunar exploration as part of NASA’s Artemis II mission, marking the first time in more than five decades that humans will orbit the Moon. At the heart of this participation is the ATENEA microsatellite, a home-grown Argentine satellite developed by the National Commission on Space Activities (CONAE) in collaboration with national institutions and universities.

The Argentine government confirmed that ATENEA will fly as a secondary payload aboard NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket during the Artemis II mission, scheduled for launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on February 6, 2026, with a launch window extending through April. This mission will send four astronauts on a roughly 10-day flight around the Moon, serving as a critical test before future human landings.

“For Argentina to be part of this mission highlights our international presence and demonstrates that we have the talent, capacity, and vision to participate in the emerging space economy,” said Darío Genua, Secretary of Innovation, Science, and Technology.

ATENEA is a CubeSat 12U class microsatellite designed and built in Argentina. It will be deployed during the early phase of the mission at a distance exceeding 70,000 kilometers from Earth, making it the farthest-traveling Argentine satellite to date.

Its main objectives include:

-Validating critical technologies for future deep space missions.

-Measuring radiation levels in deep space conditions, essential for human exploration.

-Assessing commercial components in the harsh environment beyond low Earth orbit.

-Collecting GPS data in high transfer orbits.

-Testing long-range communication links that could support future missions.

The development of ATENEA brought together a strong network of Argentine scientific and academic partners, including:

-CONAE (National Commission on Space Activities)

-VENG S.A. (Vehículo Espacial Nueva Generación)

-CNEA (National Atomic Energy Commission)

-Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía

-Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP)

-University of Buenos Aires (UBA) Faculty of Engineering

-Universidad Nacional de San Martín (UNSAM)