WVU students have the unique opportunity to prepare for the launch of West Virginia’s first satellite. 

This is the first spacecraft mission that will have been developed, tested, and launched, entirely from the state of West Virginia. 

Students and faculty had the hands on experience of building and testing elements of Simulation-to-Flight-1 CubeSat, or STF-1 CubeSat. 

The mission of the spacecraft will include four science experiments from WVU research groups, including a GPS navigation experiment. 

This foot-long satellite will launch soon, via NASA’s CubeSat launch initiative program. 

This project has been underway for nearly 4 years. 

“So this is a big moment in our history to say that we have sent a NASA mission into space, and have been able to do this all from West Virginia, so this is a big deal for everyone,” said Nick Ohi, WVU student researcher. 

WVU collaborated with the NASA West Virginia Space Grant Consortium, NASA’s Independent Verification and Validation program and TMC Technologies in Fairmont on the project. 

Find more information about the satellite here.