Thanga and Furfaro Guide Student-Led CatSat Mission Selected by NASA
Friday, March 29, 2019
![Computer-generated rendering of a CubeSat, a small satellite with a dish antenna](https://ame.engineering.arizona.edu/sites/ame.engineering.arizona.edu/files/styles/uaqs_fixed_width/public/antenna_750x385.jpg?itok=mNtBKifr)
A rendering of CatSat, a nanosatellite being built by UA students. (Image: Vishnu Reddy)
AME assistant professor Jekan Thanga and SIE professor Roberto Furfaro are the principal investigators on a project that will give student teams hands-on spacecraft hardware development experience.
NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative recently selected CatSat – a 6U CubeSat to be built on campus by students from the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, AME, astronomy, computer science, and SIE – to fly as auxiliary payload aboard future space missions.
"This is a great opportunity for students to get hands-on experience building a spacecraft and running a space mission," said Tanner Campbell, an AME doctoral student serving as project manager for CatSat.