Join us on Wednesday, June 21 at noon PST at DIY Picosatellites Hack Chat with Nathaniel Avery!

Until very recently, building a satellite and putting it into orbit was something that only a nation had the resources to accomplish, and even then, only a select few did. Sure, there have been a few amateur satellites that have somehow managed to build them on a shoestring budget and tether them into space, and while their stories deserve to be the stuff of legends, satellite building took a long time to democratize.

Fast forward six decades or so, and things have changed dramatically. Satellite launches are still a complicated matter—it’s still rocket science, after all—but the advent of the CubeSat format and increased frequency of launches, both nationally and commercially, have pushed down the barriers to low-budget, private launches. So much so that the phrase “space startup” is no longer something to scoff at.

One such group of astronauts is Quub, Inc.Inc., a small Lancaster, Pennsylvania company looking to build and fly a constellation of microsatellites to monitor Earth’s environment in real time. They build sit-downs and sign launch deals using consumer-level technology and modular construction, and we’re lucky enough that Nathaniel Ivery, chief research officer, stops by Hack Chat. If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to build a device that can withstand the rigors of a launch and then perform a mission in space, you’ll need to tune in to this one.

Our Hack Chats are live community events in the Hackaday.io messaging group chat hack. This week we will be sitting on Wednesday, June 21 at 12:00 PM PST. If you restrict timezones, we have a file Handy timezone converter. Click on that speech bubble on the right, and you’ll be taken directly to the Hack Chat group on Hackaday.io. You don’t have to wait until Wednesday; Join whenever you want and you can see what the community is talking about.