Cornell's CUSat -- a student-built, identical-twin satellite system designed to separate in orbit so that one can obtain 3-D images of the other -- is one of the three finalists for a June launch from the SpaceX launch complex in the Central Pacific Marshall Islands.

Cornell has built the pair of satellites with funding from the Air Force's University Nanosatellite Program. If chosen from among the finalists, CUSat will be the first spacecraft launched by the U.S. Department of Defense's newly formed Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) office. ORS's Jumpstart mission aims to demonstrate the ability to rapidly integrate and execute a mission, from initial call-up to launch. The decision to send the Cornell satellite, or one of the two other finalists -- the Air Force Research Laboratory's Plug and Play satellite with multiple payloads or SpaceDev's Trailblazer -- will be made before the scheduled SpaceX flight readiness review about two weeks before launch.

Space Exploration Technologies Corp. will carry the first Jumpstart mission payload aboard the Falcon 1 Flight 003 vehicle.

Cornell's CUSat, which was chosen in March 2007 as the winner among 11 entries in the Air Force program's Nanosat-4 competition, sponsored by the U.S. Air Force and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, is two identical satellites built into a hexagonal package weighing about 90 pounds. Once in orbit, the two satellites will separate and navigate around each other about 10 yards apart. Using highly refined global positioning system measurements, one satellite will relay pictures of the other to the Mission Control Center in Ithaca, where a 3-D virtual model of the target satellite will then be constructed. Such a system could be used to diagnose problems with future spacecraft, including examination of tiles on the space shuttle. Cornell's satellite was chosen based on student participation, the flight-worthiness of the design and relevance of the mission to the Air Force.

Mason Peck, a Cornell assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, is the principal investigator for the project and the faculty adviser to the student team. Mark Psiaki, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, and his Ph.D. student, Shan Mohiuddin, developed algorithms for CUSat that provide accuracy down to a fraction of an inch. Peck credits Mark Campbell, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, with the design of the satellite's thrusters, which burn solid Teflon, a much safer system than compressed gas or combustible propellant. Alumnus Kris Young, M.Eng. '07, was the student program manager during the flight competition review. Rob Zimmerman, M.Eng. '08, now leads the team.

About 80 students have worked on the project, but about 225 have been involved since 2005 when CUSat began.