Small Spacecraft Development Project-Based Learning: Implementation and Assessment of an Academic Program

This book provides the information that is required to start a small spacecraft program for educational purposes. This will include a discussion of multiple approaches to program formation and build / buy / hybrid decision considerations. The book also discusses how a CubeSat (or other small spacecraft program) can be integrated into course and/or program curriculum and the ancillary benefits that such a program can provide.  The assessment of small spacecraft programs and participatory project-based learning programs is also discussed extensively.  The book presents prior work related to program assessment (both for a single program and internationally) and discusses how similar techniques can be utilized for both formative and summative assessment of a new program.  The utility of these metrics (and past assessment of other programs) in gaining buy-in for program formation and funding is also considered.

Jeremy Straub is an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science at the North Dakota State University. Ronald Arthur Marsh is an associate professor and chair of the Computer Science Department at University of North Dakota. David J. Whalen has recently retired from being an associate professor at the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences in the Space Studies Department at the University of North Dakota.