SOCEM: Sub-Orbital CubeSat Experimental Mission

James E. Lumpp, Jr., Anthony K. Karam, Daniel M. Erb,

Jason R., Bratcher, Samir A. Rawashdeh and Twyman Clements
University of Kentucky
Lexington, KY 40506
859-257-8042
jel@uky.edu

Nathan Fite, Jeffrey Kruth and Benjamin Malphrus

Morehead State University
Morehead, KY 40351

Ivan Bland, Riki Munakata, Roland Coelho and Jordi Puig-Suari

California Polytechnic University
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407

Jason Reese
Northrop Grumman/NSROC
Wallops Island, VA 23337

Charles Brodell and Scott Schaire

NASA Wallops Flight Facility
Wallops Island, VA 23337

Abstract—SOCEM: Sub-Orbital CubeSat Experimental

Mission will attempt, for the first time, to eject CubeSats in
space from a sub-orbital sounding rocket.1 2 This
technology demonstration flight will eject two CubeSats
from a standard 17-inch diameter NASA sounding rocket.
Two student-designed and student-built CubeSats will be
ejected as part of the mission, a 2U CubeSat ADAMASat
(Antenna Deployment and Mono-filament Actuator
Satellite) developed by Kentucky Space to test CubeSat
actuator designs and a 1U CubeSat developed by Cal Poly
as a test-bed for PolySat bus technologies. The CubeSats
will be ejected perpendicular to the direction of flight
without requiring a de-spin maneuver providing the
CubeSats with several minutes in space before re-entry and
impact in the Atlantic Ocean. The SOCEM flight is
scheduled for launch on 21 January 2010. Success in this
effort could provide a robust ride-share technology for
future NASA sounding rocket missions.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................1
2. CUBESATS ON NASA SOUNDING ROCKETS ....................2
3. CUBESAT PAYLOADS........................................................4
4. GROUND OPERATIONS .....................................................5
5. VALIDATION AND TESTING ..............................................7
6. CONCLUSIONS ..................................................................7
REFERENCES ........................................................................8
BIOGRAPHY ..........................................................................8
1. INTRODUCTION
Sounding Rockets have long provided rapid access to space
for a variety of payloads. In particular, the NASA Wallops’
17-inch diameter sounding rocket form factor provides
access to space for small payloads using several different
launch vehicles. The CubeSat standard also contributes
standardized deployers which provide a popular platform
for rapid access to space for commercial and government
satellites, and especially for educational institutions. The
CubeSat Standard (10x10x10cm basic cube with mass ≤ 1
kg) was developed by Stanford University and California
Polytechnic University (Cal Poly) as a means to standardize
pico-satellite buses, structures, and subsystems. The current
CubeSat standard allows two or three cubes to be “stacked”
to construct larger 2-U and 3-U CubeSats. Cal Poly has also
developed a standardized Launch Vehicle Interface (LVI) to
accommodate CubeSats known as the Poly-Picosatellite
Orbital Deployer (P-POD) which can launch up to 3-U’s in
several configurations (one 3-U, three 1-U’s, etc). This
system has opened space exploration to smaller
organizations; in particular university student teams, that
would not otherwise have the opportunity to build, launch,
and operate spacecraft. SOCEM intends to extend the
capability of the CubeSat standard into sub-orbital space
with the use of a Poly CubeSat Launcher (PCL) based on P-
POD technology [1].

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978-1-4244-3888-4/10/$25.00 ©2010 IEEE
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IEEEAC paper#1500, Version 3, Updated 2009:10:31

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Wallops Sounding Rocket Program Overview
Established in 1945 and now operated by the Goddard
Space Flight Center, the NASA Wallops Flight Facility is
located on Wallops Island, on the Atlantic coastline of
Virginia. The facility’s emphasis on education, science, and
low cost, fast access to space [2], coupled with a long
history of safety and expertise, makes the sounding rocket
service provided by Wallops a promising candidate for use
with the CubeSat standard. NASA Wallops flies a variety of
sub-orbital sounding rockets, as seen in Figure 2. SOCEM
will demonstrate the feasibility of deploying CubeSats from
the facility's 17-inch diameter payload section form factor.
Figure 1 – A NASA Wallops sounding rocket launch [3]
SOCEM is scheduled to launch on 21 January 2010 on the
maiden flight of the 17-inch diameter NASA Wallops
Terrier Improved Malemute. The two stage solid-fuel
sounding rocket will release two CubeSats in space via a
blow-off door in the payload section of the Malemute. The
CubeSats and rocket will reach an apogee of over 300 km,
will impact the ocean east of Wallops, and will not be
recovered.
This paper will discuss the mission concept and
implementation, the unique technological challenges that
were overcome, details of the ground operations and the
experimental results from each satellite.
Figure 2 – Various Sounding Rockets Launched at
Wallops [4]
2
2. CUBESATS ON NASA SOUNDING ROCKETS
SOCEM consists of five components: the Cal Poly 1U,
ADAMASat, the PCL, the beanie, and the pedestal. The
PCL (Poly CubeSat Launcher) developed by Cal Poly,
interfaces to the rocket’s aluminum deck and blow-off door
developed by the NASA Sounding Rocket Program
(NSRP), via interfacing hardware (the pedestal and beanie)
developed by the University of Kentucky.
Figure 3 – A CAD model of the SOCEM hardware
The Cal Poly 1U and ADAMASat are the two payloads for
SOCEM. The Cal Poly 1U is a 1U (~10x10x10cm) CubeSat
designed by Cal Poly to test an attitude determination
system. ADAMASat is a 2U (~20x10x10cm) CubeSat
designed by Kentucky Space to test two satellite
components in space. The two payloads are seen in Figure
4.
Figure 4 – Cal Poly 1U (left) and ADAMASat (right)
(with US nickels for size reference)
The PCL, shown in Figure 5, was designed by Cal Poly to
deploy the CubeSat payloads using a combination of spring
force and the acceleration due to the spinning of the rocket
body. It is similar to Cal Poly’s Mk. III P-POD which is
used for CubeSat deployment from orbital spacecraft but
differs in that it has no door (in SOCEM the rocket body
uses a blow-off door for payload deployment), incorporates
a stronger spring (to compensate for the inertia of the
rotating mass on the spring side of the spin axis), lacks
access port doors, lacks a pusher plate locking pin, lacks
plungers, and lacks a QWKNUT 3K (as well as the
associated bracketing).
Figure 5 – The PCL (bolted to the pedestal)
The beanie, shown in Figure 6, is the component that
provides the interface, between the CubeSats and the
sounding rocket's blow-off door. A high-temperature tape is
also added to its curved surface (the surface adjacent to the
rocket door) to bring it to its necessary size and provide an
internal pressure among the payloads.
Figure 6 - The Beanie
The pedestal provides the interface between the PCL and
the rocket's payload deck. It was designed using steel so that
the entire SOCEM system would be spin balanced by
removing material, as shown in Figure 7.
Figure 7 - The pedestal
3
SOCEM Design
Sub-orbital CubeSat missions offer several benefits over
orbital CubeSat missions, most notably faster access to
space, faster mission turnaround, and lower cost. However,
along with the benefits there are also a number of
challenges which must be met in the design of the hardware.
In contrast to deployment from an orbital launch vehicle
such as the Dnepr, Taurus, or Minotaur, the SOCEM
payloads will be deployed from a sounding rocket which
has not been de-spun at the time of payload deployment. As
a result, any hardware on the side of the spin axis toward
the PCL spring will have a tendency to stay in the rocket
due to its inertia (that is, the rotating mass will have a
tendency to continue in its tangential motion at any instant,
thereby resulting in a perceived force towards the spring,
for the mass which is on the spring-side of the spin axis). To
account for the rotation, ADAMASat was designed with a
dense brass end cap on its face away from the PCL spring,
thereby shifting its center of gravity towards the blow-off
door. Furthermore, the spring used in the PCL is much
stronger than the springs typically used in microgravity
applications, in order to produce sufficient force to deploy
the SOCEM CubeSats even under worst-case spin
conditions. The SOCEM hardware was also designed such
that its equivalent center of gravity is on the spin axis of the
rocket.
The SOCEM components were designed specifically for the
forces involved during launch and the expected flight
dynamics. For example, instead of mating multiple
aluminum plates to create the ADAMASat frame, it was
instead fabricated from a single piece of square aluminum
extrusion. Also, when two antenna designs for ADAMASat
were considered, the less efficient design with the wider
antenna geometry was chosen due to its increased structural
fidelity.
Figure 8 – An AGI STK simulation of SOCEM, showing
telemetry links to Kentucky
Another challenge of sub-orbital missions is
communications. In contrast to orbital missions, there is
only one chance to secure a link. One way the Kentucky
Space team mitigated this problem was by choosing to
transmit over the North American APRS frequency. As a
result, as long as a single APRS-IS IGate on 144.390
secures the link, the data will be available via the internet.
An AGI (Analytical Graphics) STK (Satellite Tool Kit)
simulation has shown that SOCEM will be in the line of
sight of amateur radio operators as far west as St. Louis. A
screenshot from a similar simulation is shown in Figure 8.

Another consideration in the design of SOCEM was the

temperature profile of the rocket skin, including the blow-
off door to which the beanie directly interfaces. Originally
PTFE was considered for the beanie material due to its easy
machinability and low cost. However, concerns arose
regarding the maximum temperature of the blow-off door
which would have been too high for PTFE. Ceramics were
considered but due to the poor performance of most readily
available ceramics under high vibration levels and shock
conditions, metal was selected instead. Steel was a natural
choice as it is readily available, easy to machine,
structurally stable at high temperatures, and a good thermal
insulator (to protect the payloads). However, because of
steel’s high density, designing the overall assembly such
that the center of gravity would be on the spin axis of the Figure 9 - ADAMASat hardware block diagram
rocket proved difficult. As a result, aluminum was ADAMASat is battery powered and beacons its status and
considered. Following a series of increasingly detailed experiment results continuously over the downlink channel
thermal simulations, the thermal conductance of aluminum, throughout the mission duration, with no uplink
although high compared to other options, was proven to be communication. The APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting
sufficiently low to ensure that the temperature among the System) protocol at 144.390 MHz is used to take advantage
payloads would not be of concern at the time of of APRS infrastructure consisting of digipeaters and
deployment. internet gateways to maximize and facilitate the retrieval of
the transmitted data.
Doppler Effect concerns for the ground operations were
dismissed following calculations that showed the maximum The experiment board, shown in Figure 10, consists of four
velocity of the payloads relative to the ground stations spring-loaded switches held closed using mono-filament
would never be great enough to exceed the requirements of wire. Each mono-filament line is routed through the
the receivers. nichrome cutter assembly which ADAMASat aims to space
qualify. The flight processor controls the current level
through the cutters by adjusting a digital potentiometer, and
3. CUBESAT PAYLOADS initiates the experiment by enabling a solid-state switch in
series with the nichrome cutter.
ADAMASat

The ADAMASat payload will allow Kentucky Space to

experiment with hardware and software subsystems it
intends to use in future orbital CubeSat designs. The main
objective of the ADAMASat mission is to establish heritage
for two components which are used on an upcoming orbital
satellite mission, KySat-1 [5]. The two components being
tested on ADAMASat are the antenna deployment nichrome
cutter and the power conditioning circuitry which actuates
the cutter. Both of these custom components play a critical
role in the success of KySat-1. Thus gaining information
about their performance is valuable. The nichrome cutter
system has been tested in vacuum chambers at UK, but has
yet to gain flight heritage. ADAMASat’s goal is to test this
system in the space environment and characterize the power
levels necessary to successfully cut monofilament line using
these nichrome cutters. Figure 9 lays out a block diagram of
the hardware onboard ADAMASat. Figure 10 – ADAMASat experiment board

4
ADAMASat is based on the Silicon Laboratories
C8051F020 microcontroller. Power is isolated using a
spring-loaded switch at the foot of the satellite, giving the
payload power upon ejection from the PCL. The
microcontroller is programmed to initiate the experiments
90 seconds after deployment at a sequence of increasing
current levels and monitor the status switches to detect
successful cutting of the mono-filament lines. The software
was developed with several fault tolerance techniques. A
watchdog timer is used to mitigate software hang-ups.
Experiment status is preserved across processor resets.
The packet is designed to include the experiment results and
satellite state in a single packet format that is repeatedly
transmitted to the ground to maximize the chance of
success. Receiving a single packet after experiment
initiation will provide everything Kentucky Space hopes to
learn about the cutter system. Mission time, temperature,
cutter status, and the time duration of successful cut are
reported in the transmitted packet through the 300mW
APRS downlink radio system. Figure 11 shows a sample
packet that ADAMASat will report.
Figure 11 – An example ADAMASat APRS packet
Finally, as shown in Figure 4, the gold-colored component
on ADAMASat is a brass endcap that was added in order to
move the center of gravity of the CubeSat towards the
rocket door. Calculations show that the modification was
crucial in ensuring actual deployment from the spinning
rocket.
Cal Poly 1U
The primary purpose of Cal Poly’s 1U payload, shown in
Figure 12, is attitude determination testing. New sensors
have been mounted on the side panels, and the data
collected will provide information on the spin rate of the
satellite. This data will be compared to on-orbit data
collected from Cal Poly’s satellites, providing valuable
information on the most effective method of attitude
determination.
After orbital ejection from the P-POD on the rocket, Cal
Poly’s satellites are typically programmed to turn on
following a significant delay, allowing for physical
separation from other payloads. Because of the sub-orbital
nature of SOCEM, the satellite has been modified to turn on
5
immediately, and will begin transmitting data as soon as it
has been ejected from the PCL. This will provide Cal Poly
with data never before collected.
Figure 12 – Cal Poly 1U
Additionally, with a modification to the side panel
containing the antenna, the physical length of the antenna
has been increased to the proper length of a half-wave
dipole. The received power will be monitored, and
compared to the received power from Cal Poly’s in-orbit
satellites. The Cal Poly satellite bus, known as the CPX
Bus, will receive additional flight heritage through the
SOCEM flight, helping PolySat understand necessary
improvements and hardware optimization for future
satellites.
4. GROUND OPERATIONS
There are two ground station designs for SOCEM to support
each of the CubeSats. To further increase mission success
multiple stand-alone ground stations will be spread across
the Wallops facility and the launch site. Furthermore, two
larger stations in Kentucky, one at the University of
Kentucky and the other at Morehead State University, will
be used to receive telemetry data during the SOCEM flight.
ADAMASat uses a 300mW transmitter at 144.39MHz, with
a ½ wave dipole antenna. The ground stations to
accommodate this include a circularly polarized receiving
antenna, the Kenwood TH-D7A handheld FM, transceiver
with built in TNC and two laptops. Due to the absence of
any stabilization of the satellites during flight, and the
resulting uncontrolled tumbling of the antenna, circularly
polarized receiving antennae are essential to mission
success. The primary laptop will be running Terminal and
the other will be running a GUI, an I-Gate, and an audio
recording of the packets for future analysis. The Cal Poly
satellite uses a low power transmitter at 437.365MHz, with
a ½ wave dipole antenna. The corresponding ground station
consists of a high gain, circularly polarized antenna, the
ICOM-910H transceiver, and a laptop running Mix-W.
ADAMASat transmits AFSK (Audio Frequency Shift Table 1. ADAMASat link budget
Keying) modulated packets encoded in the AX.25 protocol
at a rate of 1200 BAUD. The onboard link budget
parameters include: the 300mW (25dBm) transmitter, the
half-wavelength antenna (2dB), and cable loss (2dB);
yielding an EIRP of 25dBm. The free space path loss
experienced by the signal equals approximately -128dB
(assuming a conservative d = 400km).

The ground station portion of the link budget consists of the

circularly polarized antenna, cable losses, system
temperature, impedance mismatching, and polarization
mismatching. The resulting gain is approximately 4dB.

There are three sets of elements in each plane that are

separated by roughly a quarter-wavelength, each set adds
3.5dB to the system, making it +7dB. As the antenna is
circularly polarized, the antenna gain takes a 3dB hit due to
the phase mismatching necessary for circular polarity,
yielding a total gain of 4dB.

The total ground system losses (6dB) consist of the cable,

temperature, impedance mismatching, and polarization
mismatching losses all grouped together (Doppler shift and Because ADAMASat will be communicating over the North
pointing losses are negligible). The final link calculation American APRS frequency 144.390 MHz, the mission will
gives the resulting signal of -102dBm. Taking into give Kentucky Space a unique outreach opportunity to
consideration that the minimum receivable signal for an FM interface with the Amateur radio community. A Windows-
receiver ~ 10dB above the noise floor, is in this case - based Graphical User Interface for real-time parsing of the
122dBm, the margin of the link is 20dB, or a SNR (signal to ADAMASat packets is being developed by Kentucky Space
noise ratio) of ~115. students (Figure 13) and will be freely available prior to the
launch through the SOCEM website. Anyone with a radio
The ground station for ADAMASat uses a modified which is capable of receiving the packets, and a TNC with a
146/437 Arrow II Satellite Antenna. It is composed of three serial output will be able to run the application to see, in
sets of VHF elements in the horizontal plane and three sets real time, the raw packets, the status of each line cutter, a
of VHF elements in the vertical plane, with each set being graph of the CPU and thermistor temperatures, and Twitter
±0.05 of a half-wavelength. Each set of elements is tweets by the Kentucky Space team.
orthogonal and is separated by a quarter-wavelength in the
respective planes. The middle, driven elements have an in-
line gamma matching system that allows for a BNC
connector to the transmission line. Phase networks were
constructed, consisting of dual BNC connectors out of the
antenna to a single SMA connection into the radio via a
75Ω coaxial cable. The dual phase network was tuned so
that the dual input cables are 90˚ out of phase to introduce
the spin necessary for circular polarization. The receiving
transceiver for the ADAMASat mission is the Kenwood
TH-D7A, chosen because of the portability and built in
TNC. The radio sends the demodulated packets via RS-232
with a DB-9 and DB-9 to USB converter to the computers
at each station, where they will then be displayed and
logged by Terminal.
Figure 13 – ADAMASAT FREE GUI screenshot

6
 5. VALIDATION AND TESTING the PCL. Review of the deployment will also be possible
due to the video recording capabilities of the spin
Vibration Testing deployment and separation chamber. Additionally, to ensure
personnel and payload safety, the spin deployment bay at
In further validating the ADAMASat design the satellite NASA Wallops Flight Facility is lined with Kevlar, as seen
was put through a series of acceptance vibration tests at the in Figure 15.
University of Kentucky Vibration Test Facility. These tests
followed a standard procedure of pre sine sweep, random
vibration test, and post sine sweep used to check for any
structural changes that may have occurred. A main obstacle
encountered during the design phase of the test involved the
fixture to hold the rectangular satellite. This problem arose
because the team wanted to avoid “coupling” the satellite
vibration response with that of the fixture. However, due to
time constraints a simple clamping design that used a 0.25”
thick piece of aluminum and 6 standard bolts to maintain
pressure (Figure 8) was used that would not fully avoid the
“coupling” problem but would ensure that the ADAMASat
payload had undergone the appropriate vibration levels. The
vibration testing of ADAMASat occurred on 23 September
2009 at the University of Kentucky Vibration Test Facility.
The data showed the test article survived the vibrations
structurally and subsequent functional testing proved that no
electrical components were damaged. This demonstrated
that the ADAMASat portion of the SOCEM mission could
survive the vibrations transferred to it during launch. The
satellite will undergo one more vibration test at NASA
Wallops with the fully integrated SOCEM hardware and the
Malemute stage of the rocket.

Figure 15 – Spin deployment bay

6. CONCLUSIONS
SOCEM will demonstrate the feasibility of a new platform
Figure 14 – ADAMASat on the shaker
for high-risk, fast turnaround, low cost access to space by
combining the benefits of the CubeSat standard with the
Spin Up Test
expertise and history of the NASA Wallops Sounding
Rocket Program Office. The demonstration mission, which
The payload section of the rocket will be spun up at NASA
is scheduled to fly on 21 January 2010, will deploy two
Wallops in January 2010, at which point the capability of
student-built payloads into space: the Cal Poly 1U, a
the blow-off door to withstand the force of the payloads
CubeSat built by Cal Poly, and ADAMASat, a 2U CubeSat
against it will be verified. [6] Assuming nominal
built by Kentucky Space. Both non-recoverable payloads
performance of the blow-off door, the brass bolt keeping the
will conduct experiments and report data to ground stations
door shut will then be cut by a guillotine pyrotechnic and
in real time via radio links. Roughly 30 students are
the ability of the payloads to deploy with rocket rotation
involved in this mission which will inexpensively mature
will be verified. The test will also give the Kentucky Space
technologies for CubeSats. It is hoped that the new platform
team the opportunity to observe the dynamics of the
will prove to be a viable alternative for future missions.
deployment of ADAMASat's antennas after departure from

7
 REFERENCES
[1] H. Heidt, J. Puig-Suari, A.S. Moore, S. Nakasuka, R.J.
Heidt, “CubeSat: A new Generation of Picosatellite for
Education and Industry Low-Cost Space
Experimentation,” 14th Annual USU Conference on
Small Satellites, August 2000.
[2] NASA Wallops Web site About page
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/wallops/about/index.html
[3] NASA Wallops Web site Multimedia page
http://sites.wff.nasa.gov/code840/multimedia
[4] Surface Combat Systems Center page
http://www.scsc.navy.mil/images/rockets.gif
[5] G. D. Chandler, D. T. McClure, S. F. Hishmeh, J. E.
Lumpp, Jr., J. B. Carter, B. K. Malphrus, D. M. Erb, W.
C. Hutchison, III, G. R. Strickler, J. W. Cutler, R. J.
Twiggs, “Development of an Off-the-Shelf Bus for Small
Satellites,” IEEEAC paper #1365, IEEE Aerospace
Conference, Big Sky, Montana. March 2007.
[6] NSROC Environmental Testing Policy Manual,
ME40280, Rev C, Released 9 February 2007.
BIOGRAPHY
James Lumpp is an Associate Professor
in the Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering at the University
of Kentucky. He is the director of the
Space Systems Laboratory at the
University of Kentucky and the
Engineering lead for Kentucky Space. He
is a Member of IEEE, ACM, and AIAA
and the Center for Advanced Networking and the Advanced
Science and Technology Commercialization Center at the
UK. He has worked as a visiting scientist or intern at
Rockwell International, Northrop, Oak Ridge National
Laboratory and AT&T Bell Labs. His research interests
include embedded systems and safety critical systems for
aerospace applications.
Anthony Karam is a senior in the
Mechanical Engineering Department at
the University of Kentucky. Since he
joined Kentucky Space in the summer of
2008, he has worked on CAD modeling
of several payloads (Balloon-1, GSC P-
12A IMU, SOCEM), passive
aerostabilization research, server
8
management for the UK Space Systems Laboratory, GUI
development for the ADAMASat mission, hardware design
for SOCEM, and scheduling/management of SOCEM.
Daniel Erb is a student at the University
of Kentucky and is currently working
towards a MS in Electrical Engineering.
Daniel is currently the program manager
for Kentucky Space. His research
interests include small spacecraft power
systems, embedded systems, and control
systems.
Jason Bratcher is a graduate research
assistant pursuing a MS in Electrical
Engineering at the University of
Kentucky. He joined the IDEA lab in
Spring of 2008 and has since led the
hardware design and build on several
lab projects. His research interests
include embedded systems hardware and
software.
Samir Rawashdeh is a graduate student
pursuing a PhD degree Electrical
Engineering. He joined the Space
Systems Lab in 2007, and took part in
several missions and research
projects since then with Kentucky
Space. His research efforts have been in
Embedded Systems Design and Signal
Processing, and is now focused on Satellite Attitude
Dynamics and Estimation Filters.
Twyman Clements is a graduate student
in Mechanical Engineering. He joined
Kentucky Space in May 2008. Since then
he has worked on Balloon-1, KySat-1,
the Garvey and Terrier Improved
Malemute test flights, and the design and
manufacturing of the CubeLab system.
Twyman's research interests include
vibration/acoustic modeling and testing.
Nathan Fite is a senior at Morehead
State University pursuing a B.S. in Space
Science. His primary research has been
in RF R&D. Nathan joined the Kentucky
Space design team the summer of 2009.
 Jeffrey Kruth currently serves as RF and
Microwave Engineer at the Space
Science Center at Morehead State
University. He has worked in research,
primarily in the defense industry, for
over 30 years. He has served as senior
engineer at Westinghouse Electric
Corporation, Aerospace Division, Electronic Warfare
Engineering, and owned and managed a private microwave
research company, K-MEC.
Jordi Puig-Suari is a Professor of the
Aerospace Engineering Department at
Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. He also
serves as the director and advisor for the
CubeSat and PolySat Programs at Cal
Poly.

Jason Reese is a mechanical Engineer with

Benjamin Malphrus is Professor of
Space Science at Morehead State
University where he also directs the
Morehead State University Space
Science Center. He served as project
director of the design and construction of
the 13 M Morehead Radio Telescope and
the 21 M Space Tracking Antenna
operated by the Center. He has significant experience in
satellite ground operations and radio astronomy observing
techniques and has participated in the design of
nanosatellite systems.
Ivan Bland is an Electrical Engineering
student finishing his Master's degree at
Cal Poly. He oversaw the payload
development for PolySat and helped
coordinate the ground station for Cal
Poly's payload.
Riki Munakata is a student at Cal Poly
currently finishing a B.S. in Aerospace
Engineering. He is the technical lead
and Student coordinator of the CubeSat
program at Cal Poly. His research
interests include mechanical design,
integration, and testing.
Northrop Grumman NSROC. He helped by
incorporating the design of the SOCEM
hardware into the rocket payload.
Charles Brodell is a Technical Manager at
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center,
Wallops Flight Facility (WFF). He serves
as the Vehicle Manager for the Sounding
Rocket Program where he is responsible
for rocket motor assets, performance,
vehicle configurations, and vehicle systems.
Scott Schaire is a Technical Manager at
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center,
Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) where he
manages multi-disciplined engineering
projects, develops feasibility concepts for
future missions, and supports new business
development. One such project is managing
support for the National Science Foundation Cubesat
Program. He is also is currently the point of contact for
WFF technical collaboration with the Operational
Responsive Space Office.

Roland Coelho is a research associate at

Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and is
completing a MS in Aerospace
Engineering. His research interests
include integration, test, and launch of
small satellites.