KSat Stuttgart

KSat Stuttgart is a student small satellite group at the University of Stuttgart in Germany. It is a non-profit association. Students from many degree programs work in it and gain practical space experience next to their studies. The site is available in English.

The group was founded in April 2014 by nine students. It says it has grown to around 250 members, including students, alumni, supporting members and honorary members. It also runs events and lectures, and members visit conferences and trade fairs. The site notes an introductory event on 21 October.

Its projects cover several space topics. SOURCE is a 3U plus CubeSat built with the Institute of Space Systems, planned to launch in 2026. SOURCE-2 is the follow up and will be twice the size. Other projects test ferrofluids in space, including PAPELL, FARGO, FerrAS and FINIX. PAPELL flew to the International Space Station in 2018 in a DLR competition.

The group also runs the BUBBLE high-altitude balloon program. It supplies the bus system for a payload and organises the launch. PARSEC is an advanced version that steers the payload down with a paraglider. ATHENE is a rover project for autonomous navigation and chassis design. The history page lists REXUS rocket experiments from Esrange in Sweden and a second place in a NASA payload challenge in 2020.

The site has a contact form for questions and feedback.