AAE490/VIP: CubeSat Lab

AAE 490: 3 Credits (Fall-Spring)

VIP: 1-2 Credits (Fall-Spring)

Course Description:

CubeSat lab is a Design-Build-Test (DBT) project for undergraduate students participating in the Air Force Research Laboratory's (AFRL) University Nanosat Program (UNP) as one of twelve schools developing a cubesat mission from initial mission concept to an engineering model with the goal to be one of the few teams selected for continued development and launch after a selection review. The course is offered to undergraduate students both as AAE 490 for aerospace students, or through the VIP program to a broader range of disciplines.

The current mission known as the Ascent Pulsed-MPD Experiment (APEx) aims to test a novel electric propulsion system being developed in the EPPL called the Pulsed Magnetoplasmadynamic (PMPD) thruster. The job of students in CubeSat lab is to design and build a spacecraft which can support the on-orbit testing of the PMPD thruster while following the structured development process laid out by the AFRL and UNP. Students can work with the development of physical hardware and software associated with CubeSats, as well as conceptual design and systems engineering processes common throughout research and industry. This provides valuable experience as the CubeSat platform gains traction as not only a university research standard but an international standard for small spacecraft utilized by governments and corperations around the globe.

More information on the mission can be found here: http://apexsat.space/about/