CubeSat: The Pico-Satellite Standard for Research and Education

The development of the CubeSat standard, a picosatellite standard, has become a tool that encourages engineering collaboration, trains students with real-world satellite experience, and provides technology advancement in the aerospace industry. The Poly-Picosatellite Orbital Deployer (P-POD), in conjuction with the CubeSat standard, plays a key role in providing access to space for CubeSats. Developing satellites at the CubeSat level highlight the increasing opportunities for access to space while yielding quicker development times. The upcoming launches demonstrate the growing interest of universities, companies, and government organizations to develop CubeSats to perform valuable scientific experiments and missions. The educational benefits of CubeSat development are emphasized by providing an ideal training ground for future scientists and engineers. I. Background