Development of the Standard CubeSat Deployer and a CubeSat Class PicoSatellite

Cal Poly students are participating in the development of a new class of picosatellite, the CubeSat. CubeSats are ideal as space development projects for universities around the world. In addition to their significant role in educating space scientists and engineers, CubeSats provide a low-cost platform for testing and space qualification of the next generation of small payloads in space. A key component of the project is the development of a standard CubeSat deployer. This deployer is capable of releasing a number of CubeSats as secondary payloads on a wide range of launchers. The standard deployer requires all CubeSats to conform to common physical requirements, and share a standard deployer interface. CubeSat development time and cost can be significantly reduced by the development of standards that are shared by a large number of spacecraft.