195: A Bunch of Sputniks
Jordi Puig-Suari, Professor of Aerospace Engineering at Cal Poly SLO and co-founder of Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, explains the origin and evolution of the CubeSat standard. He details how student projects at Cal Poly and Stanford bypassed traditional aerospace constraints by using commercial off-the-shelf components, leading to a $100,000 question about risk and cost. The conversation covers the transition from academic toy to industry standard, the role of launch providers, and Tyvak's current work on 50-kilogram microsats using similar philosophies.