Will ThinSats inspire the next generation of engineers and scientists?

摘要

When Orbital ATK's Antares rocket blasts off from Wallops Island, Virginia, next fall on its way to the International Space Station, the rocket's second stage will carry an unusual payload: one cubesat and 63 ThinSats, miniature satellites shaped like a slice of bread. For a year, the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority, Twiggs Space Lab, Orbital ATK and NASA's Wallops Flight Facility have been collaborating on a campaign to encourage Virginia students to design, build and test Thinsats, which are a seventh the size of cubesats.