Purdue University

Purdue University's School of Aeronautics and Astronautics operates the Purdue CubeSat Lab, a Design-Build-Test Vertically Integrated Project that gives undergraduate and graduate students end-to-end experience developing flight-qualified small satellites. The lab has participated in the Air Force Research Laboratory's University Nanosat Program, competing alongside a dozen other universities nationally.

Purdue's CubeSat missions span a range of technology demonstration and science objectives. The Ascent Pulsed-Plasma/MPD Experiment (APEx) tests a novel pulsed magnetoplasmadynamic thruster for future dual-mode chemical/electric propulsion systems. SASSI2 (Student Aerothermal Spectrometer Satellite of Illinois and Indiana) characterizes the bow-shock flow and radiation generated during high-speed atmospheric flight. The Aerodynamic Deorbit Experiment (ADE) flight-qualifies a deployable drag device to accelerate CubeSat deorbit, and FEMTA demonstrates a MEMS-based tunable thruster array using water propellant.

Through these missions, Purdue trains students across propulsion, aerothermodynamics, structures, and mission operations, building on the university's long-standing aerospace engineering legacy to prepare the next generation of spacecraft engineers.