Launch Your Students into Space Innovation with the CubeSat Challenge
Empower K-12 students to design, build, and deploy miniature satellites – aligning with STEM standards to foster creativity, teamwork, and real-world engineering skills.
In today's classrooms, students often lack hands-on STEM experiences, leading to disengagement in science and engineering. Traditional curricula miss the thrill of real space tech, leaving gaps in innovation and collaboration skills.
Common problems
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Low student interest in STEM careers.
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Limited access to cutting-edge projects that meet NGSS/Common Core standards.
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Challenges in fostering teamwork and ethical tech use amid budget constraints.
SkillUp Education camps and programs prioritize hands-on learning, immersing participants in practical STEM projects like CubeSat design, robotics assembly, and space simulations, guided by experts from NASA and industry.
Hands on learning
Soft skills, including communication, teamwork, and adaptability, are embedded into every module of SkillUp Education programs through interactive exercises, ensuring participants gain interpersonal competencies alongside technical expertise.
Soft Skills embedded into every module
SkillUp Education provides teachers with comprehensive resources, including detailed lesson plans, hands-on activity kits for CubeSat projects, online training modules, and collaborative forums to foster innovative STEM instruction.
Comprehensive Teacher resources
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The CubeSat Challenge is a turnkey program where students learn satellite fundamentals, safe/ethical design, and culminate in launching their own CubeSat-inspired projects.
The CubeSat Challenge empowers students to master satellite engineering basics, ethical practices, and collaborative design, culminating in innovative projects that simulate real space missions.
Boost STEM Engagement: Hands-on building increases retention by 40%.
Develop Soft Skills: Leadership, presentation, and teamwork integrated into every module.
Curriculum-Aligned: Meets standards for physics, engineering, and ethics; includes teacher resources.
Safe & Inclusive: Ensures every voice is heard, with scalable options for 10-200 students
Real-World Impact: Students design projects solving issues like climate monitoring.
Parent Appeal: Builds resumes with NASA-inspired credentials.
A recent CubeSat Challenge Program
In the build stage, participants assemble the CubeSat using off-the-shelf parts and custom electronics in cleanroom environments. Soldering circuits, integrating payloads, and conducting vibration tests ensure durability. Iterative prototyping addresses failures, with emphasis on cost-effectiveness, fostering hands-on engineering skills among students and amateurs.
Build
The design phase of the CubeSat challenge begins with defining mission objectives, such as Earth observation or technology demonstration. Teams select miniaturized components like solar panels, antennas, and sensors, ensuring compliance with 10x10x10 cm standards. Simulations and CAD modeling optimize power, thermal management, and structural integrity for space conditions.
*Picture above from our CubeSat program at RIS International School
Design
The launch phase depends on the specific CubeSat program, often utilizing high-altitude balloons for deployment instead of rockets. Teams coordinate with providers for balloon ascents to near-space altitudes, releasing the satellite upon reaching target height. Post-release, monitoring focuses on telemetry, atmospheric re-entry risks, and communication setup.
Launch
What our students think
The absolute best part of the whole CubeSat Challenge was getting to meet and work with a real astronaut. He told us stories about living on the Space Shuttle, showed us how astronauts train and helped us with our project.
Nattapon, 15, CubeSat program at
Ruamrudee International School, Bangkok
I still can’t believe I got to touch and help build a my very own satellite. Wearing the full cleanroom suit, gloves, and hairnet made me feel like a real NASA engineer.
Freyue, 13, CubeSat program at Sunway International School, Kuala Lumpur
“Building a satellite sounds hard, but doing it with my team made it the most fun I’ve ever had learning. We all had different jobs, some of us coded the software, some soldered the boards, some designed the structure, and some wrote the mission plan.
Lui, 14, CubeSat program at KAS Taiwan
What do participants get?
Signed completion certificate
All participating students receive a personally signed certificate from a NASA astronaut.
Signed program T-Shirt
Get your exclusive signed program T-Shirt; which serves as an iconic symbol, and commemorates your achievements on the program.
Photographs with a NASA astronaut*
Enjoy an exclusive chance to capture unforgettable photographs with a NASA astronaut, showcasing your connection to space exploration and creating cherished memories of this extraordinary event.
*Program dependent on which expert comes.
