High Schoolers Build Satellite and NASA Launches It to Space

Last night, a rocket took off. It launched from an island in Virginia, turned east over the Atlantic Ocean, and sailed into the atmosphere. Aboard were 29 satellites — a record for one launch.

And one of those satellites? It was built by high schoolers.

That satellite — in space right now, whizzing over our heads — is called the TJ3Sat. Built by Virginia high-school students and their teachers, it represents more than six years of work. It is the first orbiting spacecraft built by high-schoolers.

The TJ3Sat

You can also interact with it right now. Go outside, bring a short-wave radio and listen to its specified frequency (437.320 MHz). You’ll hear words spoken by its on-board voice processor, which were converted into waves and beamed back to the ground. Humans submitted those words using an online form — so you’re hearing, via space, the assembled messages of TJ3Sat’s human audience. Read more...