Overview
- The CyberCUBE mission reached low Earth orbit on Tuesday, July 7, 2026, after a successful launch from Vandenberg on a SpaceX Falcon 9, marking the start of its on‑orbit test campaign.
- Built by Alén Space as a reprogrammable 3U CubeSat of about four kilograms, the platform carries processing hardware and a payload designed to monitor and record cyber threats in real operational conditions.
- Developed and led by GMV with campaign decisions concentrated in Romania, the mission will validate defenses against unauthorized command‑and‑control access and will test detection and mitigation of jamming (radio interference) and spoofing (false signal injection).
- Planned experiments also include continuous onboard system monitoring and validation of new algorithms such as post‑quantum cryptography, which aims to protect satellites against future quantum computer attacks.
- Data from CyberCUBE will inform how European missions harden satellites in orbit and could shift future cybersecurity work from ground simulators to real‑world flight tests, boosting Spain’s role in ESA programmes and affecting how operators secure services people rely on daily.