The program's objectives are to involve graduate students in the process of spaceflight development, and to provide low-cost access to space for scientific research and the testing of nanoscale devices.
It is operated by teachers and graduate students at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies, Space Flight Laboratory (UTIAS/SFL).
It can also be placed in safe-hold mode by the ground operator whenever it is not performing any missions or experiment for a long period of time.
The color imager in conjunction with a wide-angle lens was intended primarily for taking photographs of Earth, and the monochrome imager in conjunction with a narrow-angle lens was for testing the feasibility of taking star, moon, and horizon pictures which could then be used for attitude determination and control.
CanX-1 was launched with a custom designed On-Board Computer (OBC) based on the low-power ARM7 core, which operates on up to 40 MHz.
It is hoped that this formation flying technology will allow larger missions for high resolution Earth observation and interferometric imaging that can also be used for space astronomy.
"[5] CanX-3, also known as the BRIght Target Explorer (BRITE), is a nanosatellite planned to make photometric observations of some of the brightest stars in the sky in order to examine them for variability.
A preliminary design for BRITE has been completed with the support of ETech, and the components to be integrated into the nanosatellite are currently being evaluated at UTIAS/SFL.
[7] The dual spacecraft mission were the first nanosattelites to demonstrate autonomous formation flights with centimetre-level positional control.
CanX-6 was started in October 2007, and was developed to demonstrate key aspects of the COM DEV spaceborne Automatic Identification System.