FalconSAT is the United States Air Force Academy 's (USAFA) small satellite engineering program. Satellites are designed, built, tested, and operated by Academy cadets. The project is administered by the USAFA Space Systems Research Center under the direction of the Department of Astronautics.

In the U.S. Air Force Academy Department of Astronautics FalconSAT program, cadets learn space by doing space through real-world satellite development and operations. Cadets design, analyze, build, test and operate small satellites hosting technology experiments funded by the Air Force Research Laboratory.

USAFA’s FalconSAT-8 satellite is among the experimental payloads hitching a ride on a United Launch Alliance rocket. UPDATE: Launch time was scheduled for 8:24 a.m. Eastern Time on Saturday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, but threatening weather delayed the launch to Sunday.

FalconGOLD was the first satellite designed and built at the Academy. The mission was a partnership between the Academy and the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs (UCCS). Cadets were responsible for building the spacecraft while students at …

2017年10月10日 · FalconSAT-8 will test advanced propulsion technologies and small payloads that will gain space flight heritage. It is scheduled to be launch-ready in late 2018. FalconSAT experience is invaluable to the development of future Air Force leaders.

FalconSAT-3 was built in 2005 and 2006 by cadets and faculty in the Space Systems Research Center at the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO. It is the fourth in a series of small satellites designed, built and operated there as part of a capstone course and which brings together about 30 cadets each year from several different ...

2023年11月22日 · When a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., Nov. 11, among the more than 100 satellites it launched into orbit was one designed, built, and operated by Air Force Academy cadets.

2012年5月28日 · FalconSat-5 is a 3-axis stabilized minisatellite. The ADCS (Attitude Determination and Control Subsystem) uses 3 reactions wheels (MW-1000) and 3 torque rods as actuators. Attitude sensing is provided by four digital sun sensors (SpaceQuest Inc.), a 3-axis magnetometer and an onboard GPS receiver.

2014年8月29日 · FalconSAT-7 is a 3U CubeSat nanosatellite measuring just 30 cm x 10 cm x 10 cm with a mass of ~ 5 kg. The satellite is built on a NRO supplied Colony-II 3U CubeSat built by Boeing. The payload is Peregrine: the world's first spaceborne membrane telescope.

FalconSat-3 is the 3rd in a series of United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) student-built microsatellites. Its primary mission was to test a gravity gradient boom for stabilization of the spacecraft in the Z direction, with magnetorquers control the rotation about the Z axis.