CubeSat: Student-Built Satellites Launch with Help from NASA Initiative

Last week four small satellites, built by students, made their way into space aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. The launch of these CubeSat research satellites from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California were part of NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative.

Known as the Educational Launch of Nanosatellite (ElaNa), this was the 5th such launch of these CubeSats – a class of research spacecraft called nanosatellites. Cubesats are only roughly 4 inches on each side, with a volume of about 1 quart and less than 3 pounds in weight.

Watch this video of the CubeSat nanosatellites deploying in space:

“This was another great moment for the ELaNa mission and the CubeSat community,” said Jason Crusan, director of NASA’s Advanced Exploration Systems Division, which oversees the CubeSat Launch Initiative. “With each successful mission, we are demonstrating that frequent access to space provides a great opportunity for NASA to gain engineering results at a low cost while affording students real-world exposure to spaceflight.”

According to information from NASA, the CubeSats were prepared jointly by NASA’s Jet Propulsion and students at Medgar Evers College at the City University of New York; Montana State University in Bozeman; and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in collaboration with the University of New Hampshire in Durham; and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

The idea behind this program is to help students, along with their teachers, develop and nurture hands-on experience in the development of space flight hardware.

At the end of the Summer in August, NASA will be seeking additional proposals for the next series of CubeSats. The program started in 2010 and since that time more than 90 CubeSats, from primarily educational and government institutions around the United States, have been selected to fly into space.

Additional information about NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative can be found online at: http://www.nasa.gov/cubesat.