Robertsville Middle School students participating in the NASA Project-Based Learning course visit Marshall to present their CubeSat project to a panel of engineers. Marshall developed curriculum and trained teachers for the elective course while Marshall engineers served as mentors to the students. (Photo credit: NASA/Oak Ridge Schools)

NASA, which has been working with Robertsville Middle School, announced Friday that the Oak Ridge Schools project is one of 11 small research satellites selected to fly as auxiliary payloads aboard space missions in the next few years.

The satellite projects were selected from seven states and Puerto Rico. They are eligible for placement on a launch manifest, depending on the availability of a flight opportunity, for space missions planned in 2019, 2020, and 2021, NASA said.

The Oak Ridge project, RamSat, is an education mission to develop and implement a middle school science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM, curriculum for building a CubeSat. CubeSats are a type of spacecraft called nanosatellites, often measuring about four inches on each side and weighing less than three pounds. They have a volume of about one quart. CubeSats are built using these standard dimensions as Units or “U,” and are classified as 1U, 2U, 3U, or 6U in total size.

The selections, which were announced Friday, are part of the ninth round of the NASA CubeSat Launch Initiative.

The launch opportunities for the 11 small research satellites include planned spaceflight missions led by NASA, other U.S. government agencies, or commercial organizations, as well as deployments from the International Space Station. The CubeSats were proposed by educational institutions, or nonprofit organizations. [Read more…]