PixelSat I

A CubeSat built by high schoolers

Project Pixel Orbital is a fully student-led team at Stanford Online High School building PixelSat I, a 3U CubeSat targeting launch into sun-synchronous low Earth orbit in early 2027, from scratch, on an extremely limited budget.

Donate to PixelSat I

Form factor

3U CubeSat (100×100×300 mm)

ADCS

IMU, magnetometer, and sun sensor readings are merged and fused using an Extended Kalman Filter to estimate the spacecraft's attitude (orientation). Hand-wound magnetorquers are driven through a PID controller to set the satellite's angular velocity and orientation.

PixelSat I Software Part 2: Attitude Determination and Control System ›SNN-based ADCS implementation ›

Power

Our battery pack is a 7.4V lithium-ion battery pack powered by high-efficiency solar panels. The satellite runs on a 3.3V bus regulated by a custom power controller, with other (higher voltage) dedicated buses for the communications system and the magnetorquers.

PixelSat I Electrical Part 1: Electrical Power System ›

Flight computer

A STM32-series processor running the RTIC framework handles all onboard operations on a single core. All code is no_std Rust. We have a Raspberry Pi Zero coprocessor for camera operations, science experiments, and doom.

PixelSat I Software Part 3: Onboard Computer ›

Communications

Our dual-band communications system uses LoRa UHF at 435 MHz alongside S-band at 2.4 GHz. The UHF transceiver is an E-Byte LoRa module built around a Semtech SX1262 chip and connected to a tape-measure antenna that deploys in orbit via a burn wire, and we are using novel patch antenna technologies for the S-band antenna.

PixelSat I Software Part 1: Comms System ›

PixelSat I

March 2027
current launch target
$10k
hardware budget
0
adult supervision
Help fund the hardwareFollow the build

Read our latest blog post

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SNN-based ADCS implementation

Vinayak Vikram on 8/9/2026

In brief

Form factor
3U CubeSat (100×100×300 mm)
Orbit
Sun-synchronous LEO @ 550km
Structure
Aluminum frame
Comms
435 MHz UHF + 2.4 GHz S-band
Goal
Capture & downlink image of the Earth

Mission

Do it

Getting to orbit is genuinely difficult; even university teams with decades of experience can fail. Due to our extremely limited budget, we're building everything from scratch and relying on commercial off-the-shelf hardware in the majority of cases. The chances of failure are high, which makes the mission all the more exhilarating.

Take an image of the Earth

We aim to 1) detumble (stop spinning after being released from the launch vehicle), 2) establish contact with the Project Pixel Orbital team on the ground with our dual-band UHF and S-band comms system, 3) capture an image of the Earth using the onboard OV2640 camera, and 4) downlink the image.

Learn stuff

Building PixelSat I is a massive endeavour, not just technically, but also because every member is learning and growing as we go. From embedded Rust to CAD software to control theory, we're pushing our knowledge and gaining new skills along the way.

Inspire other kids

We want to prove to students around the world that it's possible to build a CubeSat from scratch with no prior experience on a meager budget as a high school team, and hopefully get others to follow suit!

Team

Ashwin Naren

Ashwin Naren

Team lead · Software lead

Vinayak Vikram

Vinayak Vikram

Electrical lead · structural lead · software

Aadish Verma

Aadish Verma

Comms lead · software

Weston Yoo

Weston Yoo

Project Founder · Project Manager

DF

Daphne F

Outreach lead

Siddhartha Hiremath

Siddhartha Hiremath

Software

James Lu

James Lu

Outreach

Charlotte Haase

Charlotte Haase

Outreach

VC

Vikrant Chintanaboina

Thermal

JN

Jahnavi Naren

Software · structural

Olivia Kaiser

Olivia Kaiser

Outreach

Grace Zheng

Grace Zheng

Structural · media

CL

Caleb Laverty

Outreach

Support us

Launch costs are covered, but we're seeking funding for the actual hardware of the satellite. Our $10,000 budget is already measly compared to the millions available to many university teams, so every dollar helps.

Donate on GoFundMe