All Systems GO! Attention Satellite Space Nerds & Hackers, AMSAT build your own Cubesat!

The talk starts from a practical problem: many small satellites fail after reaching orbit, and mistakes are costly to fix once hardware is in space. The AMSAT CubeSatSim is presented as a low-cost ground emulator that runs on solar power, transmits UHF telemetry that amateur radio equipment can receive, and sits in a 3D-printed frame. It can be expanded with GPS, cameras and other sensors, and it is sold either fully assembled or as a kit with a complete bill of materials. The speakers describe classroom use with high school and college students, who can track telemetry, adjust flight software, manage power budgets and rehearse mission scenarios.

The middle of the talk turns to security. The speakers point to F Prime, the open-source flight software framework from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and to a 2024 adversarial assessment in which its developers tested their own code and published mitigations. They summarise past incidents, including a 2011 compromise of JPL systems and a 2022 attack on satellite communications that reached user terminals through a vendor's network management software and modems. They describe the main attack surfaces as the internet link, the ground station, the network and the modem, and they argue that ground stations often lack strong physical and network protections.

The closing section connects the material to skills people already have. Denial of service, network segmentation and wireless basics all apply to spacecraft and ground systems, so newcomers do not need deep orbital mechanics to begin. The speakers recommend reading the F Prime assessment, point to AMSAT's education kits and loan program, and describe Aerospace Village outreach, a satellite-tracking badge and the Hack-A-Sat live satellite challenge as ways to get involved.