The Nano-Satellite Design Competition will be administered over a 15 -18 month period. The design challenge will incorporate the fundamentals of space project management, which includes scheduled system design reviews, risk and hazard identification and mitigation, and management of cost, schedule and performance. Students will be challenged to integrate familiar aspects of engineering design (structures, avionics, propulsion, guidance, navigation & control (GN&C), electrical power and communications), into an engineered system that can meet its performance requirements for no less than one year in the harsh environment of low earth orbit. Final performance will be measured by test & validation exercises at the end of the project, and will be documented through a formal Acceptance Review process.

Throughout the project, the students will evaluate launch feasibility, and after the Acceptance Review will participate in payload integration exercises with candidate launch vehicles identified during design using the winning NanoSat design.

The winning design will be launched as ballast on a TBD launch vehicle at TBD date, and the winning team will walk away with a cash prize.

Students will be supported by a technical team, TriVector International (TVI), operated by space/aerospace engineers with more than 60 years combined experience in launch vehicle and satellite design, development, test and evaluation (DDT&E) for the US Space Administration, NASA. TVI’s US clients include NASA, Teledyne Brown Engineering (TBE) and the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UA Huntsville).

The competition is organized by the Singapore Space and Technology Association (SSTA). SSTA is a non-profit association focused on developing Singapore’s space technology industry. It also acts as a neutral platform to facilitate information and communication for government, industry and academia.