In-Person Professional Development

For K-12 Teachers & Informal Educators

Classroom CubeSat Flight Experiments Training

2024 trainings have taken place. Please check back for information regarding our 2025 training or check out our always available Online Course.

Learn to build a working CubeSat with onboard sensors and Arduino Microcontroller. This introductory course will teach you everything you need to know in order to build a CubeSat experiment with your students. No prior experience with electronics is required. You will also have the opportunity to send us your student-made experiment for flight as a payload aboard one of our various missions.

Participants will be able to…

– assemble an Arduino microcontroller and sensors.

– program an Arduino and collect data from the sensors.

– solder basic components for CubeSat builds and future electronics projects.

– assemble a CubeSat frame containing an Arduino microcontroller and sensors.

– understand & use the Engineering Design Process to develop future CubeSat experiments with students.

In-Person CubeSat Build

The primary purpose of our in-person training is to provide educators with an accessible, step-by-step program to introduce them to working with CubeSats in the classroom. With the training and resources from this course, educators will be able to work with their students to build flight-ready CubeSats and experiments that can be flown on multiple launch platforms.

This workshop will strengthen the understanding of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) studies and careers through guided work in spaceflight experiments and engineering. It introduces affordable, easy-to-use flight experiment equipment and flight opportunities to educators across the US. Through our programs, we enable communities of learners to participate in authentic, hands-on exploration in STEM tied to actual spaceflight missions.

Hands-on Flight Training

During this workshop, participants will have the opportunity to take part in the planning, launch, and retrieval of a High Altitude Balloon mission, which will carry a CubeSat up to an altitude as high as 110,000 ft.

Participants will also have the opportunity to go for a ride in a glider, to get exposure to the wonders of flight.

Online Resources

The workshop is delivered in-person but all participants will receive access to our online version as well, which is provided using Instructure’s Canvas learning platform. You will be able to see all parts of the workshop online and at your own pace. After the in-person workshop, you will have access to weekly office hours as well as direct email, video, and telephone support from Teachers in Space in order to ensure that you and your students have all the assistance you need to build a flight-ready CubeSat

Enrollment Includes:

  • $220 Stipend

  • Up to $500 Travel Reimbursement for traveling 60+ miles (First Come, First Served)

  • Access to the online course materials through Online Learning platform

  • Two (2) CubeSat kits, which include all of the parts necessary to assemble a working CubeSat during the workshop as well as in class with your students

  • Access to regular office hours and troubleshooting with TIS staff after the workshop is over, throughout the 2023/2024 school year support program

  • The opportunity to fly a student-built CubeSat aboard a High Altitude Balloon or other Stratospheric flight platform

  • The opportunity for your students’ experiments to be built into a professionally made CubeSat that will fly aboard a Blue Origin or SpaceX rocket.

Participants will receive certificates of completion for 12 hours of professional development credit. We can work with participants to ensure that these hours are aligned with their state’s certification requirements.

Course Registration Fee: $1600 Due to Support from Our Generous Sponsors (Free for New Mexico & Maine Teachers) – Payable by Credit Card or we can send an invoice directly to your school or district for payment through their purchase order system.

Day 1:

Introductions

Working with Arduino

Intro to Sensors

Soldering

MicroSD Module

Day 2:

Temperature/Pressure Sensor

Gyroscope/Accelerometer

Real Time Clock

Data & Graphing

Frame Assembly

Day 3:

High Altitude Balloon Mission Launch

Balloon Tracking

Balloon Payload Recovery

Glider Rides

Day 4:

Balloon/Glider Data Analysis

Satellite Communications

Future CubeSat Builds

Standards Alignment – CubeSats in the Classroom