Project DaVinci is a student-led team at North Idaho STEM Charter Academy. Their spacecraft, the DaVinci satellite, is designed to connect with students worldwide to help reignite a passion for space. Once launched, the DaVinci satellite will begin broadcasting messages across the globe using amateur radio uplink and downlink frequencies. Students in nearly every country will be able to receive these messages using a USB receiver dongle, open source software and a yagi antenna in locations where the signal may be weaker. All messages will be education-related, and messages received will be in Morse Code, requiring students to download a translating app or to translate it themselves.
The DaVinci satellite will use the internet as a redundancy communication channel while in orbit. It is one of the few CubeSats to have a GlobalStar modem onboard, allowing team members to upload digital messages to internet through the satellite. DaVinci satellite has an onboard Arducam as well, and will provide photos of Earth from its position in orbit. These pictures can be retrieved by the team using the GlobalStar modem and its corresponding server.
Ten CubeSats on the Rocket Lab flight are launching as the 19th Educational Launch of NanoSatellites (ELaNa) mission through NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative.