{"id":28423,"date":"2026-10-29T17:45:56","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T21:45:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=28423"},"modified":"2026-10-29T17:45:56","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T21:45:56","slug":"student-satellite-projects-programs-oct-29-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=28423","title":{"rendered":"Student satellite projects & programs – Oct.29.2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

For many decades, students in university programs have designed and built small satellites and operated them in orbit. With the arrival of standardized Cubesat designs and hardware, high school and even grade school students have joined in the smallsat fun. Such endeavors grew out of the AMSAT<\/a> initiative of the amateur radio community, which launched the first non-government satellites in 1961.\u00a0 (For more smallsat history, see Satellite Building<\/a> in the HS archives.) Note that the term Amateur Satellites<\/em> refers to the use of amateur radio bands for communications, not the quality or sophistication of the satellites.<\/p>\n

Here is another sampling of recent student smallsat projects and programs:<\/p>\n

** Georgia Tech students begin operating ASCENT Propulsion Dual Mode spacecraft in 500 km orbit<\/strong>:\u00a0Georgia Tech student team operates new satellite in space | FOX 5 Atlanta – Oct.6.2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Georgia Tech students made initial contact last week with a satellite launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to test next-generation space propulsion systems, according to the university. …<\/em><\/p>\n

… A team of student operators at Georgia Tech sent their first command \u2014 “Go Jackets!” \u2014 to the small satellite on Thursday at 6:21 p.m.<\/em><\/p>\n

Operating out of the Space Systems Design Laboratory Mission Operations Center in Atlanta, the students will run daily shifts to track and control the spacecraft during a nine-month demonstration, officials explained.<\/em><\/p>\n

** The non-profit Libre Space Foundation<\/a> (LSF) in Greece built a picosatellite for a school program in Kazakhsta<\/strong>n: Greek Space Technology Sends Kazakh School Into Space | Greek City Times – Oct.8.2026<\/a><\/p>\n

LSF was surprised when Kazakhstan\u2019s Space Agency approached it directly after learning about its work at international conferences.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThey wanted an estimate of how much a \u2018pocket-class\u2019 satellite would cost for use in a school in Kazakhstan,\u201d LSF vice president Eleftherios Kosmas told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (AMNA).<\/em><\/p>\n

He said Kazakhstan appeared keen to gradually develop an independent space programme but had a limited budget, so officials decided to start with a school.<\/em><\/p>\n

LSF initially provided an engineering model designed only for laboratory testing and used it to train the students. It then built the satellite that eventually launched into orbit.<\/em><\/p>\n

Here is an article about the launch of five LSF satellites, including the Kazakh picosat, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 on Oct.1.2026: Five new LSF satellites in orbit | Libre Space Foundation – Oct.12.2026<\/a><\/p>\n

On 1 October 2026, four SIDLOC PocketQubes and NIS-PQ, a QUBIK PocketQube built for a Nazarbayev Intellectual School in Astana, Kazakhstan, launched on SpaceX’s Transporter-18 rideshare. That brings the number of Libre Space Foundation satellites put in orbit to ten.<\/em><\/p>\n

** University of Kentucky students\u00a0 designed twelve capsules <\/strong>released from orbit into upper atmosphere to test thermal protection techniques: NASA Demonstrates Next-Generation Heat Shield Technologies | NASA – Oct.9.2026<\/a><\/p>\n

NASA is testing heat shields that can keep astronauts safe as they return from missions to the Moon and Mars in an unusual way: by taking out the trash.<\/em><\/p>\n

When Northrop Grumman 24th cargo resupply mission for NASA undocked from the International Space Station, it carried a fleet of 12 small, experimental capsules designed to test the next generation of thermal protection materials that could serve as the foundation for future heat shields.<\/em><\/p>\n

The experiment, called the Kentucky Reentry Probe Experiment (KREPE-3), is the third in a series of low-cost, high-impact missions that use the final moments of the cargo spacecraft\u2019s lifespan to gather valuable data.<\/em><\/p>\n

The experiment is a collaboration among the University of Kentucky, the state of Kentucky, NASA\u2019s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), several NASA centers, and other federal and commercial partners.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cKREPE-3 is a great example of the goals of NASA\u2019s EPSCoR program,\u201d said David Berger, EPSCoR program manager at NASA\u2019s Headquarters in Washington. \u201cWe are supporting the next generation of scientists and engineers as they develop unique projects that benefit their education and NASA\u2019s mission goals.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

** Scottish and Japanese students designing cubesat to carry out investigation of the distillation of whiskey in weightlessnes<\/strong>s: Project which aims to make spirits in the sky could be a taste of the future | University of Glasgow – Oct.5.2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Engineers from universities in Scotland and Japan are planning to boldly go where no dram has gone before with the launch of a new research project to distil whisky in space.<\/em><\/p>\n

The researchers are planning to send whisky-making materials into space aboard a tiny satellite and use an artificial \u2018tongue\u2019 to taste tiny changes in the tipple\u2019s terpenes as it orbits the Earth. <\/em><\/p>\n

The project aims to test for the first time how the complex chemistry of whisky-making is affected by the harsh environment of space. <\/em><\/p>\n

Their findings could help pave the way for orbital factories where molecules which are difficult or impossible to synthesise on Earth can be manufactured for use in new medications for conditions like diabetes, cancer and Alzheimer\u2019s disease.<\/em><\/p>\n

** Cornell student group reports on light sail experiments in space <\/strong>including\u00a0 the successful test of a light sail deployment from a CubeSat, which itself had been deployed into orbit from the ISS: Cornell University successfully deploys free-flying light sails in orbit | Cornell Univ.\/EurekAlert! – Sept.25.2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Students in Cornell\u2019s Space Systems Design Studio <\/a>(SSDS) have just published mission results for two unique light sail experiments. These sails are slightly larger than a pizza box, and harness momentum from photons to accelerate to high velocities. With ChipSats<\/a> onboard \u2013 gram-scale spacecraft that fit in the palm of your hand, the sails can become free-flyers. They origami-fold into CubeSats for launch, and completely separate when deployed, allowing them to be far smaller and lighter than traditional solar sails. The ChipSats provide all ground communications and steering capabilities, for a fraction of the mass and cost.<\/em><\/p>\n

The two experiments \u2013 Alpha CubeSat<\/a> and Sailing to the Stars<\/a> \u2013 launched to the ISS in late 2025 on NG-23 and Crew-11, respectively.<\/em><\/p>\n

Alpha is 1U CubeSat, funded by NASA\u2019s CubeSat Launch Initiative, that deployed the light sail in low Earth orbit. Through the TinyGS<\/a> network, amateur radio operators around the world managed to establish contact with the small ChipSat spacecraft onboard prior to the sail\u2019s quick demise due to atmospheric drag.<\/em><\/p>\n

The second experiment took place solely within the ISS. It involved testing systems for deployment of small sails:<\/p>\n

Sailing to the Stars is a companion ISS experiment that tested the deployment of six of these light sails in the microgravity environment of the space station. Funded by ISS National Laboratory in collaboration with Rhodium Scientific, it obtained critical video footage and IMU data that helps the students better understand the sail-deployment dynamics. Two different CubeSat-scale deployer designs were tested \u2013 both entirely 3D-printed with modular \u201cCubeSat-LEGO\u201d components, spin-stabilized with laptop hard disk drive reaction wheels, and commanded via TV remotes \u2013 to assess which release mechanism displayed more stable kinematics. The insights gained from this experiment inform the design of future missions.<\/em><\/p>\n

The two light sail projects<\/p>\n

were designed, assembled, and tested by students, with the original concept for Alpha proposed by a high school student as part of the Museum of Science Fiction\u2019s International CubeSat Design Competition<\/a>. Since 2016, over 150 students contributed to the spacecraft projects, with over 50% interning or working in the aerospace industry after graduation.<\/em><\/p>\n

See also: Cornell Lightsail Experiment Paves the Way for Interstellar Missions | Universe Today – Sept.28.2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Papers reporting on the results of the projects can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here’s a video from 2022 describing the Alpha CubeSat project:<\/p>\n