April 17, 2008

Contact: Amy Hewes
College of Engineering
805-756-6402
ahewes@calpoly.edu

CubeSat Workshop Promotes Global Collaboration

When 38 universities, 32 companies and organizations, and 14 countries get together, they usually meet on a field of competition. But the 200 participants in the Fifth Annual CubeSat Developer’s Workshop came to Cal Poly on April 9-11 not to compete, but to share.

The CubeSat Developer’s Workshop is the only conference in the world dedicated to developing, designing, manufacturing, testing and operating nano-satellites and pico-satellites. Currently, over 40 universities, high schools, and private firms are involved in designing and developing pico-satellites containing scientific, private, and government payloads.  

Cal Poly and Stanford University created the CubeSat Standard to provide developers with guidelines to interface with the Poly Pico-satellite Orbital Deployer, or P-POD. The P-POD is a tubular, spring loaded mechanism easily integrated into any launch vehicle. 

“The development of the CubeSat program has redefined the ‘Space Race,’” said Cal Poly College of Engineering Dean Mohammad Noori.  

“Instead of working feverishly in a race, CubeSat developers across the U.S. and around the globe are pooling their knowledge and experience. In so doing, these researchers are providing a template for global cooperation and collaboration – a vision of ‘Colony Earth’ that will enable a far greater expansion of the frontiers of knowledge, technology and understanding,” said Noori. 

A CubeSat is a 10 cm cube with a mass of up to 1 kg. Currently, they are launched via P-PODs on decomissioned Russian rockets overseas.                      

“By repeatedly flight-proving the P-POD design, we hope to instill confidence in launch providers, primary payloads, and organizations interested in flying experiments on CubeSats,” explains aerospace engineering student and event organizer Alex Chin. “We envision a day when P-PODs can be manifested into a mission with minimal per launch integration time and engineering costs.” 

The CubeSat Workshop included numerous displays, group activities, some speeches, and plenty of time for developer teams to mingle and compare ideas and designs. Specific workshop topics ranged from CubeSat cams to P-POD updates to software defined radio approach for the implementation of ground station receivers.  

Those interested in participating in the CubeSat program need only to design and build a satellite according to the CubeSat Standard. This standard describes the specific regulations of outer dimensions, recommends materials, and highlights restrictions and schedule information in regard to integration and launch. Launch costs are currently about $40,000 per single cube for a developer. This year’s CubeSat Workshop event sponsor was Boeing. Raytheon, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin were additional sponsors.

See CubeSat for more information on the program and workshop.