Session
Weekend Session 5: Coordinating Successful Educational Programs
Location
Utah State University, Logan, UT
Abstract
BIRDS program is a university CubeSat program whose primary mission is capacity building of non-space faring countries. It has been run by Kyushu Institute of Technology, Japan, where a group of foreign and Japanese students designs, builds, tests and operates CubeSats. The program started in 2015. Roughly every year since 2017, BIRDS program delivered and launched multiple CubeSats from International Space Station. In total, the program generated 17 CubeSats in five generations. The satellites have been designed in a way so that even satellite beginners can go through the satellite system life cycles from the mission definition to the operation in two years, the duration of Master course. Subsequent generations of students overlap in the laboratory so that they can inherit the know-hows and the experience directly in-person. The satellite design has been modified based on the lessons learned in the former generations, especially during the operation phase. After going through the series of developments and operations, the satellite bus has become very mature. Currently, the initiative to open-source the BIRDS bus is also running. The program, rather than project, management aspects of university CubeSat program is discussed.
Program Management for Sustainable University CubeSat Programs Based on the Experience of Five Generations of CubeSat Projects, BIRDS Program
Utah State University, Logan, UT
BIRDS program is a university CubeSat program whose primary mission is capacity building of non-space faring countries. It has been run by Kyushu Institute of Technology, Japan, where a group of foreign and Japanese students designs, builds, tests and operates CubeSats. The program started in 2015. Roughly every year since 2017, BIRDS program delivered and launched multiple CubeSats from International Space Station. In total, the program generated 17 CubeSats in five generations. The satellites have been designed in a way so that even satellite beginners can go through the satellite system life cycles from the mission definition to the operation in two years, the duration of Master course. Subsequent generations of students overlap in the laboratory so that they can inherit the know-hows and the experience directly in-person. The satellite design has been modified based on the lessons learned in the former generations, especially during the operation phase. After going through the series of developments and operations, the satellite bus has become very mature. Currently, the initiative to open-source the BIRDS bus is also running. The program, rather than project, management aspects of university CubeSat program is discussed.
