Cybersecurity |

SUCHAI-4 Nanosatellite Mission

Tue, 07 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Overview

SUCHAI-4 is a 3U CubeSat nanosatellite (30 × 10 × 10 cm) developed under an inter-institutional collaboration led by the Space and Planetary Exploration Laboratory (SPEL) at Universidad de Chile, with key software, cybersecurity, and ground system engineering developed by researchers and students from the Department of Computer Engineering (DIINF) at Universidad de Santiago de Chile (USACH) / SCY-FI Lab.

Launched successfully on July 7, 2026, SUCHAI-4 acts as a multipurpose orbital laboratory hosting nearly 60 experiments in space physics, biology (extremophiles), Earth observation, and optics.

DIINF & USACH Contributions

The project was led by SPEL, with the collaboration of academic researchers and undergraduate/graduate students from DIINF / SCY-FI Lab (USACH), who developed key onboard software components, ground control interfaces, and security modules:

Status variables synchronization across OBC: Developed an algorithm to synchronize the status variables between the many OBCs of the CubeSat (Josué Quileñan). Thesis:
Software in the Loop Testing interface: Developed an SIL testing interface for the SUCHAI-FS to interact with space and operational simulators (such as HoneySat) to help testing and validating the SUCHAI-4 Flight Software and the control algorithms early (Felipe Solís). Thesis:
Automatic Flight Operation & Scripting: Developed automated “recipe” execution systems capable of running complex sequential command pipelines autonomously during short orbital communication windows (Lucas Mesías).
Ground Control Interface: Built an intuitive graphical control interface for the SUCHAI Flight Software (SFS), simplifying telecommand transmission and real-time satellite telemetry monitoring (Josué Mateluna).
Low-Cost Educational Groundstations: Developed budget-friendly receiver kits for high schools, enabling students nationwide to receive live telemetry from SUCHAI-4 (Claudia Villa).

People Involved & Collaborators

USACH / DIINF Team:
- Carlos Gonzalez-Cortes (Academic Lead)
- Lucas Mesías
- Claudia Villa
- Josué Mateluna
- Josué Quileñan
- Felipe Solís
Collaborating Institutions:
- SPEL (Space and Planetary Exploration Laboratory - Universidad de Chile, Project Lead)
- SCY-FI Lab (Department of Computer Engineering - DIINF, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, USACH)
- Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso
- Universidad de Antofagasta
- Universidad Austral de Chile
- Funding by ANID (Fondef, Fondecyt, Anillo)

Links & Resources

👩‍💻 SUCHAI-4 Onboard Flight Software Repository:
🛠️ SUCHAI-4 Telemetry Decoding Tutorial:
🏛️ USACH News Press Release:
🏛️ DIINF USACH Press Release:
🏛️ Universidad de Chile Press Release:

HoneySat: Satellite Honeypot Exposes Real Attacks on Space Infrastructure

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 12:00:00 +0000

HoneySat, the first functional satellite honeypot, was presented at the Network and Distributed System Security Symposium in San Diego. It uses real ground-segment software to simulate a mission while the space segment is a high-interaction satellite simulator; ten satellite operators tested it and 90 percent could not tell it from a real mission. Once exposed on the internet it collected 22 real commands from attackers, and an in-orbit demonstration connected it to an actual satellite to show it deceives attackers listening on the radio link.

Continue reading:

HoneySat: Network-based Satellite Honeypot Framework

Thu, 12 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Overview

HoneySat is the first high-interaction satellite honeypot framework designed to convincingly simulate real-world CubeSats and SmallSats exposed over network interfaces. For years, satellite systems relied on security by obscurity under the assumption that indecipherable proprietary architectures provided sufficient protection. However, modern technological advancements have rendered these assumptions obsolete, opening up satellite communications to potential adversarial attacks.

HoneySat bridges the critical gap in space cybersecurity by capturing real-world satellite adversarial techniques and collecting threat intelligence to develop robust defensive countermeasures.

Technical Details

High-Interaction Simulation: Convincingly emulates the network interfaces, telemetry protocols, and command execution pipelines of operational CubeSats.
Hardware-in-the-Loop Integration: Validated through real-world hardware-in-the-loop operations successfully communicating with an operational in-orbit SmallSat mission.
Threat Intelligence Gathering: Deployed across the Internet to capture live adversarial behavior, collecting real-world interactions without risking active satellite assets.
Operator Validation: Evaluated with small-satellite operators, achieving a 90% realism rating among domain experts.

People Involved & Collaborators

Maintainers & Authors:
- Efrén López-Morales (New Mexico State University)
- Ulysse Planta (CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security)
- Gabriele Marra (CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security)
- Carlos Gonzalez-Cortes (SCY-FI Lab)
- Jacob Hopkins (Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi)
- Majid Garoosi (CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security)
- Elías Obreque (Universidad de Chile)
- Carlos Rubio-Medrano (Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi)
- Ali Abbasi (CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security)
Collaborating Institutions:
- CISPA (Helmholtz Center for Information Security)
- New Mexico State University
- Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi
- SCY-FI Lab (Computer Engineering Department, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, USACH)
- SPEL (Universidad de Chile)

Links & Resources

📄 NDSS 2026 Paper:
🌐 NDSS Publication Page:
📊 Presentation Slides:
🎬 Presentation Video: