Small satellites

This is a prototype of a “pico satellite” being designed and built in a mechanical and aerospace engineering laboratory at the University of Florida on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2008. Far smaller than a standard satellite, the pico satellite is intended to test new techniques to control very small satellites in outer space. The overall goal of Associate Professor Norman Fitz-Coy’s research program is to boost the role of tiny satellites, which could be designed, produced and launched far more cheaply and easily than standard satellites. The completed pico satellite, expected to be launched in 2009, will be about the size of a softball. This prototype is slightly larger than a basketball.

(Kristin Nichols/University of Florida News Bureau)
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