The low cost CubeSat approach to satellite design is growing rapidly in popularity and over 75 Cubesats have reached space already. Most of these have come from colleges, universities and small companies. Now even a K-8 school is building one: Young students aim to be among first to launch small satellite – SlashGear.

Students at St. Thomas More Cathedral School in Arlington, VA are aiming to be a part of a milestone. The school is looking to become the first K-8 school to launch a “CubeSat” satellite into space. The proposed satellite that the students will build would be four inches long in all directions and would weigh around three pounds.

The project has to be approved by NASA, but if the school gets clearance, the satellite will have a planned launch date sometime later in 2014. The CubeSat satellite that St. Thomas More students have planned will be designed to take photographs and temperature readings, and have them beamed back to the school on Earth.