Known as the “Father of the CubeSat,” Prof. Robert “Bob” Twiggs is an American aerospace engineer, educator, and emeritus Professor of Astronautics and Space Science at Morehead State University. He is best known as the co-inventor, with Jordi Puig-Suari, of the CubeSat reference design, a small satellite standard that helped universities, researchers, companies, and government organizations gain more affordable access to space. Twiggs was also critical in the invention and development of several other educational satellite concepts, including CanSat, PocketQube, and ThinSat. Across his career, Twiggs has focused on hands-on STEM education, using small satellites and related projects to teach students how to design, build, test, and operate real space systems.
The materials gathered include course lectures, space systems engineering presentations, student project materials, mission concepts, technical explanations, outreach resources, historical reflections, and related work by colleagues and collaborators in aerospace engineering and satellite construction. Together, the collection shows how small satellites became not only a new class of spacecraft but also a new way to teach engineering, science, teamwork, systems thinking, and innovation. For students, this collection offers a window into the practical foundations of spacecraft design and mission development. For educators, it provides examples of how complex aerospace concepts can be translated into approachable, project-based learning. For historians of spaceflight, it preserves evidence of the educational movement that helped make small satellites a global phenomenon. For engineers and entrepreneurs, it shows how standards, constraints, and simplicity can unlock new forms of participation in space.
Submissions from 1999
Joint Space Systems Operations Program, Robert J. Twiggs and Billy Smith
Microsatellite and Formation Flying Technologies on University Nanosatellites, Robert J. Twiggs
OPAL: 2nd SSDL Microsatellite, Robert J. Twiggs
OPAL: A First Generation Microsatellite That Provides Picosat Communications for the Amateur Radio Community, Robert J. Twiggs, James Cutler, Greg Hutchinson, and Jeffrey Williams
OPAL Launch Opportunity, Robert J. Twiggs
OPAL Microsatellite, Greg Hutchins
OPAL Picosatellite Launcher, Robert J. Twiggs
Opal Press Release: October 28, 1999, Robert J. Twiggs
OPAL: Project Objectives & Development, Robert J. Twiggs
OPAL Update, Robert J. Twiggs
Orion PDR: SSDL Program Overview, Robert J. Twiggs
Space Systems Development Laboratory, Robert J. Twiggs
Space Systems Development Laboratory: Teach Systems Engineering, Robert J. Twiggs
Student Micro/Nano Space Applications, Robert J. Twiggs
Student Space Program: Stanford University, Robert J. Twiggs
The Emerald Nanosatellite Mission, Robert J. Twiggs
University Nanosatellite Distributed Satellite Capabilities to Support TechSat 21, Robert J. Twiggs
Submissions from 1998
A Small/Micro-/Pico-Satellite Programfor Investigating Thunderstorm-Related Atmospheric Phenomena, Christopher Kitts
EMERALD: A Low-Cost Spacecraft Mission for Validating Formation Flying Technologies, Robert J. Twiggs, Jonathan How, and Christopher Kitts
EMERALD: The Next Squirt, Robert J. Twiggs
EMERALD: Where We Are and Where We Are Going, Freddy Pranajaya and Bryan Palmintier
Nanosatellite Program – A Challenge to AMSAT for Collaboration to Use the Amateur Bands, Robert J. Twiggs
ORION: A Microsatellite Testbed for Formation Flying, Robert J. Twiggs and Jonathan How
Stanford Space Systems Development Program, Robert J. Twiggs
Submissions from 1997
ODIE Design Review, Robert J. Twiggs and Ron Hellings
ODIE Design Review: Spacecraft Design Class, Robert J. Twiggs
ODIE: Orbiting Dragfree International Experiment, Robert J. Twiggs
Submissions from 1989
The NUSat I Project: Government, Industry and Academia Learning Together, Charles A. Bonsall
Submissions from 1987
NUSAT I Project: Final Report, Charles A. Bonsall
Submissions from 1985
NUSAT 1 - The First Ejectable Getaway Special, Charles A. Bonsall and R. Gilbert Moore
The NUSAT I Project, Charles Allen Bonsall
Submissions from 1984
Bonsall FAA Report, Charles A. Bonsall
Functional Philosophy of the NUSAT System and the organization that developed it, Charles A. Bonsall
Submissions from 1969
Saturn V Launch Views - Apollo 12 (AS-507) High Speed Camera, NASA
Submissions from 1964
The Control and Use of Drag-Free Satellites, Benjamin Lange