The edgecube project is a partnership between sonoma state university (SSU), santa clara university (SCU) in california and morehead state university (MSU) in kentucky, with additional support from…

This federal contract award, valued at $199,649.70, was granted to Sonoma State University (SSU) by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under the EDGECUBE project. EDGECUBE is a 1U CubeSat designed to monitor the red edge characteristics of 300 km areas of the Earth using five narrow spectral bands. The project is a partnership between SSU, Santa Clara University, and Morehead State University, with additional support from the California Space Grant Consortium. The contract is a cooperative agreement that will enable an eight-member multi-disciplinary undergraduate student team to design, construct, test, and operate the EDGECUBE satellite. The project will enhance the students' technical, leadership, and project management skills, while the data collected will be used to test different red-edge analysis techniques for long-term ecosystem monitoring. This contract award does not have a set-aside designation.

The edgecube project is a partnership between sonoma state university (SSU), santa clara university (SCU) in california and morehead state university (MSU) in kentucky, with additional support from the california space grant consortium (casgc). Edgecube is a 1U cubesat that has been specifically designed to monitor the red edge characteristics of 300 KM areas of the earth using five narrow spectral bands in the wavelength range 630-800 NM. Although edgecube's ground spatial resolution is substantially less than conventional multispectral satellites, its design will test the red-edge monitoring concept within the limitations of a cubesat project. Data from edgecube will enable tests of different red-edge analysis techniques that are particularly suited for detecting long term change in large, relatively homogeneous ecosystems. The edgecube project will build on the successful construction and operations of the 3P pocketqubc t-logoqube that telemetered magnetometer data from orbit for 2 months in 2013 (see http://universe.sonoma.EDU/t-logoqube for details). The proposed edgecube project will enhance the technical, leadership, and project skills for the diverse eight-member multi-disciplinary undergraduate student team. These students will design, construct, test and operate edgecube. Ground operations will be conducted using existing facilities AL SCU, SSU and MSU. Students will be mentored by lynn cominsky (PI, SSU), CO-i matthew clark (SSU), CO-i garrett jernigan (retired from UC berkeley's space sciences laboratory), CO-i christopher kitts (SCU), CO-i BOB twiggs (MSU), warren wiscombe (retired from NASA's goddard space flight center) as well as by a graduate student from santa clara university and additional volunteers from SSU and SCU. Work done by undergraduate students will fulfill degree requirements for senior capstone projects in geography, physics, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, computer engineering, and computer science majors.