The Development of a CubeSat Program and Subsequent Business Implementation

Abstract

Cube Satellites are a newer space innovation that aim to breakdown the prohibitive cost barrier of performing science objectives in space, an effort which has recently been bolstered by NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative. The initiative aims to have every state in the country orbit a satellite, a task Kansas has yet to complete. Enter KUbeSat1, which aims to be the first fully built and successfully launched satellite from Kansas. To accomplish this task a new student run organization, KUbeSat, was created that features a unique organizational makeup meant to enable it to be a self-sufficient entity capable of launching a new satellite every two to three years. During the construction of KUbeSat1, nearly all of the components of the satellite were sourced outside of the US and there was a fundamental lack of inexpensive hardware in the US. The “small sat” market is expected to grow to be worth over $13B in the next decade with more than 9,000 small satellites being launched during that same time. The combination of the manufacturing vacuum in the US with the expected growth, means it is the perfect time to create a new startup focused on small satellite manufacturing. A vertically integrated small satellite manufacturer would need approximately $500,000 of capital investment to begin developing the hardware needed to meet the demand of not only KUbeSat, but also the growing small sat market.