Small satellites from Oregon!
Small educational satellites called CubeSats have been launched by dozens of universities, countries, and companies all around the world. And now Oregon has joined them! We've designed our very own artisanally hand-crafted CubeSat system, and our first CubeSat is currently in low Earth orbit as you read this.
We currently have three satellite missions in the works. All rely on the fully open source OreSat bus which we're offering as an inexpensive (for a satellite!) "DIY" platform for designing and building your own CubeSat.
We're the Portland State Aerospace Society (PSAS) an interdisciplinary open source student group at Portland State University, but we have collaborators at most other Oregon universities. Here’s a bit more about us.
Here’s how to get involved. You can also follow our development progress on github; OreSat is a completely open source project.
Finally, please also consider donating to support Oregon’s first satellites and a a fantastic little open source satellite system!
OreSat0, Oregon's first satellite!
FAQs
What is a CubeSat?
A CubeSat is a very small (about 10 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm) satellite that conforms to the CubeSat design specification. Just like those shipping containers you see on container ships, making satellites that are the same shape makes them easier to launch. There are many different standard sizes of CubeSats, measured in "units" or "U". OreSat0 is a 1U CubeSat, OreSat1 is a 2U CubeSat. The CubeSat standard was created in 1999 at the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and Stanford University's Space Systems Development Lab in an effort to make it easier to launch educational satellites. Although CubeSats were originally designed for education, they're now so standard that companies and even high schools have built CubeSats. Over 1,200 CubeSats have been launched since 2000! Most of these have long since burnt up in the atmosphere, but there are currently hundreds of them in orbit right now.
What is Open Source?
Open source means that we share all of our designs with you! Any hardware, software, or firmware project that we do has its source published. This includes 3D mechanical CAD files for structures, electrical CAD for circuit boards, and of course source code for software. These are published to the web so that you can see how it's built, build your own, and help make our designs better! There's a catch, though: you have to make your designs open source, too! That way everyone wins. See our page on open source for details.
I have no space experience, but want to help, can I do that?
We love all space nerds, no matter your experience. We are an interdisciplinary student project of all majors. We're serious about that "all": business, art, chemistry, math - we need you all! Check out our How To Get Involved page!
Can students from other universities join?
Yes! We love working with students from all over! Check out our How To Get Involved Page to get started! We are excited to have you!
What if I'm Not a student?
One of the best parts of our group is that we have people from local industry work directly with students. Called Industry Advisors, these people help mentor and teach our students how to do real world projects. Check out our How To Get Involved Page to get started!
Want to know what we are up to? Check out our google calendar:
Supporters
We're a student group without much funding; we couldn't bring satellites to Oregon without our supporters!
Follow Us!
See our Instagram, Twitter, and emails below. You can also sign up for our announcement-only mailing list here.