Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech's small-satellite activities are centered in Space@VT (the Center for Space Science and Engineering Research) and the Kevin T. Crofton Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering, which give undergraduate and graduate students hands-on experience across the full CubeSat development lifecycle in partnership with NASA and the Virginia Space Grant Consortium.

Virginia Tech's recent flagship mission is Ut ProSat-1, a 3U CubeSat built as a testbed for NASA Langley Research Center's ultralightweight deployable composite boom technology. Delivered for launch aboard a Northrop Grumman Cygnus resupply mission to the International Space Station, Ut ProSat-1 was designed to demonstrate on-orbit deployment and characterize the dynamic behavior of lightweight deployable structures relevant to future solar sails, antennas, and other extendable spacecraft components. It builds on earlier Virginia Tech CubeSat missions including ThickSat and HokieSat.

Virginia Tech is also a founding member of the Virginia CubeSat Constellation, a multi-university collaboration coordinating student-built CubeSat launches, and its researchers continue to develop new CubeSat payloads, including ultraviolet camera systems for space weather studies.