As part of his SPRE summer internship, Will Huang ('25) designed a STEM payload enclosure in a 3U cubesat form factor.  The sturdy aluminum structure is designed to enclose a stack of 15-30 standardized STEM educational payload kits, for insertion into a 3U cubesat dispenser or canister.  The enclosure is composed of machined aluminum end plates, 3D-printed (or machined) internal payload "shelves", and aluminum sheet sidewalls that can be either cheaply lasercut (online) or waterjet-cut on our own desktop waterjet!

Will specifically designed the aluminum end plates and sidewalls to be also fabricable from 3D-printed and lasercut plastics, thus comprising a "budget" version of the enclosure, fabricable by any school on a modest budget.  The "budget" version is admittedly less sturdy, and its flightworthiness remains to be investigated via vibe test and launch (regardless, this plastic material selection would only qualify it for suborbital--not orbital--use cases).  The first STEM launch program that will implement our enclosure will be MaxIQ's bluShift Suborbital Launch Program.  

Download the full design in STEP format below.