WEISS-SAT1: A Student Developed Astrobiology Payload for Small Satellite Microgravity Research

The WeissSat-1 is a novel student developed 1U CubeSat designed to support astrobiology payloads for microgravity research. WeissSat-1 is the premier project of the Weiss CubeSat Development Team (WCDT), which was established in August of 2015. The founding WeissSat-1 team consisted of nine students ranging between the ages of 10-12 years old. The mission was: to design, build, test, and fly a CubeSat into space within three years. WeissSat-1, based on the NearSpace Launch Inc’s 1U FastBus structure, was chosen by ELaNa 24 and manifested to fly in the fourth quarter of 2018. WeissSat-1 will carry a lab-on-a-chip system designed to test and validate the survivability of extremophile bacteria in orbit. WeissSat-1 demonstrates the benefit and the importance of engaging and involving students in space-based scientific research throughout the academic pipeline. This work will discuss in detail the technology of the WeissSat-1 mission, and will discuss its impacts on middle school students and their STEM interests. The WCDT contends that if the respective extremophile bacteria on WeissSat-1 are capable of surviving in space, this may have ramifications for the possibility that bacteria may have transferred between planetary bodies over the life of the solar system