Last week, members of Capitol College’s astronautical engineering faculty hosted seven high school students for a “Do-It-Yourself CubeSat” workshop, and worked with students as they learned more about picosatellite design and the principles of astronautical engineering.
The three-day workshop kicked off with a welcome from Anoop Mehta, president of the Maryland Space Business Roundtable. After welcoming the participating students, Mehta discussed the opportunities available to those who pursue an education and career in astronautical engineering.
Students then took part in an interactive session on systems engineering processes. Angela Walters, chair of the astronautical engineering department, also gave an overview of satellite subsystems. Following lunch, Dr. Sandy Antunes, assistant professor, led a session on the design of picosatellites. Antunes is the author of a four-part book series that details how to build and launch picosatellites.
On the second day of the workshop, students were provided their cubesat kits and began constructing their picosatellites with assistance from Capitol College faculty. Students were divided into two groups, and worked in teams as they designed their picosatellites. In the afternoon, students completed their designs and presented their projects for the design review portion of the workshop.
After the design review, students and faculty tested their picosatellites on weather balloons. The weather balloons allowed the students to simulate the launch of their projects and test their designs. Following the flights, the groups detailed their results and discussed ways to improve upon their projects.
On the final day of the workshop, students were given a behind-the-scenes tour of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, Md. During the tour, students were able to talk with NASA engineers and see the type of work that is done daily at GSFC.
The DIY CubeSat Workshop was made possible with funding by the Maryland Space Business Roundtable. Capitol College is dedicated to keeping students in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) pipeline, and workshop series such as the DIY CubeSat Workshop are one way the college attempts to promote STEM learning in the state of Maryland. The college offers a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science degree in astronautical engineering.