A sampling of recent articles, press releases, etc. related to student and amateur CubeSat / SmallSat projects and programs:
** Florida high school student satellite, StangSat, reaches orbit via the SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch last week. Students at Merritt Island High School (MIHS) designed and built the CubeSat. A local TV news report: High-schoolers sent cube satellite into space aboard Falcon Heavy – WOFL
More at
- Local Florida High School Shoots for the Stars | NASA
- MIHS StangSat, Merritt Island High School, Merritt Island, FL (2019)
- SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch from Kennedy Space Center: Darkness turns to day – Florida Today
- LightSail 2 Has Launched! – The Planetary Society
- AE’s Prox-1 Satellite Launches from Kennedy Space Center – Georgia Institute of Technology
- LightSail 2 Launches, Will Transmit CW Beacon – ARRL.org
The sail’s cubesat will be ejected from Prox-1 this week:
LightSail 2 team members will soon converge at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in California, where the spacecraft’s mission control is located. Once LightSail 2 is released from Prox-1 on 2 July, the team will spend several days checking out the CubeSat’s systems before commanding its dual-sided solar panels to deploy. Following that, the spacecraft’s solar sails will be deployed, roughly 2 weeks in total from launch day.
** Students at Cal State Poly at San Luis Obispo were involved closely with LightSail-2 and with LEO (Launch Environment Observer) cubesat also on board the FH:
- SpaceX Florida rocket to carry Cal Poly SLO satellite, sail | San Luis Obispo Tribune
- SpaceX Launch Set for Monday Night, June 24, Includes CubeSAT from Cal Poly – Cal Poly News
The LightSail-2 mission will rely on the ground station at CalPoly SLO.
** Students at Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi are building MYSAT-2, with the support of Al Yah Satellite Communications Company (Yahsat), for launch on a Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft in 2020: Khalifa University’s MYSAT-2 CUbeSat completes critical design review milestone – ZAWYA
Designed and built by a team of nine students pursuing a Master’s degree with Space Systems and Technology Concentration, MYSAT-2 features significant upgrades from MYSAT-1. Its primary mission is to enable students to design, implement, and test new Attitude Determination and Control (ADC) Algorithms, developed by the Khalifa University students. The algorithms help determine a CubeSat’s orientation in space, and are estimated to be 15 to 20 percent more power-efficient, in comparison with similar algorithms implemented on other spacecrafts. If successful, the new algorithms will establish the UAE as a contributor to the global space industry.
** AMSAT news on student and amateur CubeSat/smallsat projects: ANS-181 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin
- AO-85 Update: Do Not Access While in Eclipse
- Candidates for the AMSAT Board of Directors Announced
- PSAT Successfully Launched on Falcon Heavy STP-2
- Update: PSAT2 is coming to Northern Latitudes!
- Updated TLE’s and Analysis Tools for BIRDS-3
- Chinese Lunar Satellite DSLWP-B and the July 2 Solar Eclipse
- Thailand JAISAT-1 Satellite to Launch on July 5, 2019
- ARISS International Delegates Meet in Montreal
- European Astro Pi Challenge Winners Announced
- New Release of G0KLA Tracker
- Upcoming Satellite Operations
- ARISS News
- Satellite Shorts from All Over
See also Amateur radio satellites launch on SpaceX STP-2 mission | AMSAT-UK
General CubeSat/SmallSat info:
- Projects:
- Deep space:
- Remote sensing:
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