Date: August 2025
Amount: $5,766

The Illinois Space Society is a student-led nonprofit at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. It has more than 600 members from engineering, computer science, physics, and other fields. Past projects include building hybrid and solid motors, breaking university rocket altitude records, and developing amateur radio-based telemetry with the ARRL.

This project will create a new tracking and communications system for student-built rockets. The team will upgrade its portable ground station and build a satellite communication board that can send vehicle data through commercial satellite constellations. These systems will reduce the risk of losing rockets at near-space altitudes. They will also give students experience with advanced RF and satellite communications while producing open-source designs that other amateur teams can use.

Learn more at https://www.illinoisspacesociety.org/.