What does it take to get a small student-built satellite to the International Space Station so it can be tested in orbit? Eight years. More than 120 undergraduates. Industry collaborators. And a lot of glue.

After 8+ years of engineering, the students are taking their Alpha CubeSat — a cube-shaped spacecraft with the world’s first retroreflective, solo-flying light sail— to Houston for final preparations before launch this summer!

Joshua Umansky-Castro, a doctoral candidate in aerospace engineering, discussed a project in Cornell Engineering’s Space Systems Design Studio to develop light sail technology that could be used for interstellar missions.

Interviews with five of the speakers for Carl Sagan's 90th birthday celebration!

Cornell Engineering students just built light sails, space tech propelled by light, not fuel. Think sailboats, but in space. 🌌 Their invention’s headed to the International Space Station to be tested in zero gravity.

Light sails could travel as far as the next star system, Alpha Centauri—but to get there, a better understanding of light sail deployment mechanisms will be needed.

Sailing to the Stars at the Intrepid Museum!

“The whole idea of going to the stars was amazing to me. It still is.”

A light sail that could one day propel small spacecraft through interstellar realms is headed to the International Space Station and will be tested by astronauts on behalf of Cornell’s Space Systems Design Studio...

A yearslong effort to launch Cornell-made satellite technology into a neighboring solar system is making a terrestrial stop at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City.

That goal is to boldly go where no satellite development team has gone before: to build a satellite, completely with off-the-shelf components, and go from design to completion in 10 weeks, at a cost of $10,000...