Argentine microsatellite released in space during Artemis II mission breaks record

An Argentine microsatellite that traveled into space as part of the United States’ Moon exploration mission Artemis II established communication 70,000 kilometers away from Earth, marking a national record. Microsatellite ATENEA, developed by Argentine public institutions and a national private company, entered the Moon’s orbit and successfully made contact with stations in Córdoba and Tierra del Fuego on Thursday. This means it has reached “the largest distance from which an Argentine space mission has transmitted data till now,” said the National Space Activities Commission (CONAE, by its Spanish initials) in an X post. “This milestone confirms the robustness of our technology and the country’s ability to innovate, explore, and overcome new challenges in space,” CONAE said. “Every step forward brings us closer to more ambitious missions and strengthens the growth of the national aerospace sector.” ATENEA made its first contact with the Argentine stations minutes before 2 a.m. (Argentina time) on Thursday, around six hours after Artemis II took off. At 9 a.m., it reached its highest connection point at over 70,000 kilometers from Earth, “confirming the complete success of the operation,” said innovation, science and technology secretary Darío Genua in an X post. Argentine science in NASA’s Moon mission Artemis II, a mission led by the United States’ space agency NASA, launched on Wednesday with the goal of taking a human crew to the Moon’s orbit for the first time in over 50 years. Argentina’s ATENEA is one of four satellites that were launched inside the Artemis II spaceship to be released into space. They were included as what is known as “secondary playloads,” projects which are unrelated to the main mission but that are allowed to take up the available slots in order to reach space. The Argentine development was accompanied by fellow CubeSat satellites from South Korea, Germany and Saudi Arabia. The South Korean and the German satellites were not able to successfully make contact with Earth after being released. ATENEA, a 12U CubeSat microsatellite, was designed with the goal of training space engineers and scientists and testing technology in an environment Argentina has never reached before. Marcamos un nuevo récord 🚀🇦🇷El microsatélite ATENEA logró establecer comunicación a 70.000 kilómetros de la Tierra, alcanzando la mayor distancia desde la que una misión espacial argentina haya transmitido datos hasta hoy.Este hito confirma la solidez de nuestra tecnología y… pic.twitter.com/zYeJa372Id— CONAE (@CONAE_Oficial) April 3, 2026 The mission’s objectives also include the development of low-cost satellite missions and international cooperation. Now, from space, ATENEA will carry out survey, testing and validation tasks related to space radiation, silicon photomultipliers (a type of light detector), GPS data, and long-range communication links for future deep-space exploration programs. The institutions that participated in the development and design of the microsatellite include three public universities: National University of La Plata — which was behind most of ATENEA’s design and systems — National University of San Martín, and University of Buenos Aires’ Faculty of Engineering. Other participants are the Argentine Institute of Radio Astronomy (IAR), the National Atomic Energy Commission (CNEA), and Argentine private company VENG, all under the coordination of the CONAE.