CubeSat Design Standard – Space Technology Hall of Fame Recognition

In 1999, Bob Twiggs, then a professor at Stanford University, and Jordi Puig-Suari, a professor at California Polytechnic State University, created CubeSat as a teaching tool to hasten access and provide experience to satellite functionality for students. CubeSat, a miniaturized satellite conforming to strict design specifications, is used to develop skills necessary for the design, manufacture, and testing of small satellites intended for low Earth orbit and to perform scientific research functions.

Twiggs and Puig-Suari developed the basic CubeSat design that would become the worldwide standard, including the launching mechanism known as the P-POD. The one key element in the concept’s success — the standardization of the P-POD — made it simpler for universities and research groups to launch CubeSats. In addition, it gave launch providers confidence that the technology was proven to deploy safely, without risk to launch vehicles or other payloads.

CubeSat.org, a continuation of the work done by Puig-Suari, is responsible for managing and updating the standards for CubeSats and is currently the only governing body for CubeSat technology. The first use of a CubeSat for a NASA science mission was in 2006 at Ames Research Center to study the effects of space on living organisms. The agency has continued to deploy CubeSats as a part of various space exploration missions.

source