Oakwood Spacecraft Engineers Are Off to a Running Start!

Oakwood High School Spacecraft Systems Engineering class is off to an exciting start this year! Students are fully engaged in the journey to launch our satellite, NyanSat, through NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative.

This semester, students have learned about space environments and built on previous classes' work in mission design and prototyping. They’ve started mastering important skills like soldering, mechanical design, and performance validation through finite element analysis.

The class is working diligently on final schedules and documentation to deliver NyanSat for launch by late 2025. They're also conducting crucial validation on the spacecraft's computer, which was designed by Ruchir Kavulli '24 as part of his senior project. Freshman Luohe Zha kicked off the team's validation efforts by soldering components to the printed circuit board.

Junior Ryan Beaulieu shared his insights: “Getting our satellite’s flight computer running was an important milestone. A lot of design work had to be just right, and we had to take careful steps to apply power, upload firmware, and confirm its function.”

We are proud of how focused and dedicated our students are as they develop real-world engineering skills. Oakwood Spacecraft Engineers are making impressive progress!