Saint Francis University CubeSat Program

 by Robert Young, University Advancement NASA has awarded nearly $400,000 to launch Saint Francis University's Rural Institute for Space Science and Engineering Collaboration (RISE-C ), a two-year initiative conducted in partnership with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center . The innovative program will immerse undergraduate students in NASA-related research while preparing them for graduate study and careers in the nation's aerospace workforce.  Read More: https://www.francis.edu/blog/nasa-awards-sfu-400k-launch-space-science-and-engineering-collaboration 

          Over the course of six weeks in summer 2026, a team of students completed an array of tasks in support of of the SoFIE CubeSat missio n. They presented their accomplishments at the  Summer Research and Internship Poster Session in the Science Center at Saint Francis University on September 11, 2026. One of the main objectives for the summer was to create a fully functional prototype of the CubeSat called a FlatSat to test the various systems and core program design before flight. The flight software team of  Jonah Layman and Brennen Yingling focused on  combining written code from other technicians to control various hardware devices, such as a Software-Defined Radio (SDR) and X-Ray Sensor.  Critical to the FlatSat test, a power board was needed so that all the different systems could receive power in order to operate. John Julin created the board using KiCad, had it fabricated, and cross-checked the entire board using a mult...