SSI Fall Newsletter 2024
November 12, 2024
Greetings current SSI members, alumni, and supporters!
In this newsletter, you’ll find all the exhilarating projects that the SSI team has been working on this past year, along with some sneak peeks at our future plans for this quarter. A huge thank you to Evelyn Nutt (‘25, [email protected]) for helping to put this together!
Our aim for this newsletter is to help SSI and supporters of the organization to stay up-to-date with all the latest SSI happenings as we quickly evolve over time, always looking to keep pace with trending engineering challenges. We hope that you enjoy our obsessive dedication to super fast, super explosive, super OUT-THERE projects as we, students, strive to put our hard-earned hands-on skill to the test. We’d like to thank you for your continued support!
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to [email protected] if you have any suggestions, questions, comments, or just want to say hi! Keep up with us at www.stanfordssi.org and get frequent updates via the Instagram @stanfordssi.
Michelle Park ([email protected]) ‘26
Ashley Raigosa ([email protected]) ‘26
SSI Co-Presidents 2024-2025
Balloons
Up, Up, and Away: A Historic Year for Balloons
Highlights from our 2023-2024 season
Circumnavigate
For the first time in SSI history, our balloons team has successfully sent a balloon around the world.
After several years of experimentation and attempts, on March 16, 2024 our team launched superpressure balloons—SSI-118 and SSI-119. Over the following two weeks, SSI-118 made its way across 3 continents and 2 oceans before passing over its original longitude, marking our first-ever circumnavigation. SSI-119 circumnavigated soon after, eventually surpassing SSI-118 as it proceeded to fly for 94 days, making nearly six laps around the Earth.
Along the way, we have been able to share our circumnavigate journey and successes with the rest of our Stanford community. On social media, our work has been featured by Stanford Engineering (@stanfordeng, 98.1K followers) twice and Stanford Alumni (@stanfordalumni, 32.7K followers), alongside photos of our work displayed in various spaces across campus. On a more personal level, we have also done launches with family members during family weekend and prospective frosh during admit weekend.
Going into the future, we plan on adding additional sensors to gather atmospheric data, improving our tracking systems, and testing out different balloon configurations.
Latex Balloon Launch
What happens when you give a Swiftie a balloon? Meet the Tay-load!
During spring quarter, our team marked our return to latex balloons with a launch from Hollister, CA. Unlike our circumnavigate project, latex balloons focus on going high rather than going far and are able to carry much heavier payloads too. This particular payload was outfitted with sensors to collect atmospheric data, cameras to capture the view from 90,000 ft above Earth, several GPS tracking devices, and just for fun—a cutout of Taylor Swift! The team was able to successfully launch and chase Tay-load to its final landing site, and are looking forward to taking our latex balloon capabilities to the next level. Over the summer, we are experimenting with different payload configurations, tracking methods, and parachute deployment systems, as well as finding ways to improve launch logistics and finding potential launch sites for some exciting fall road trips!
TOBIAS (Tethered Observatory for Balloon-based Imaging & Atmospheric Sampling)
TOBIAS is back! Our team is thrilled to announce the return of our award-winning TOBIAS project—a balloon based probe designed to withstand Venus’ harsh conditions and map the planet’s surface. We will be working on improving its stabilization and incorporating mapping technology into the probe moving into next year.
Looking forward…
Overall, it has truly been an incredible year for balloons, and we are so proud of everything our team has accomplished. We are beyond excited to see where the future will take us as we continue to push our own limits and explore the world above us.
So say we all,
Michelle Zheng ([email protected]) ‘27
Amber Leung ([email protected]) ‘27
Rockets
HPRCC (High Power Rocketry Certification Program)
Our HPRCC program is in full swing, with significant achievements across all certification levels. This fall, we participated in the
October Skies
launch, where Matthew Nguyen achieved his L3 certification, and several other members passed their L2 exams, marking a key milestone for our program. Certification sessions for L1 and L2 are ongoing, allowing newer members hands-on experience and preparation for the next launch season in 2025.
Fountain Hopper Project (Collegiate Propulsive Lander Challenge)
The Fountain Hopper Project, our custom hybrid-engine, self-landing rocket designed for the Collegiate Propulsive Lander Challenge (CPLC), is making steady progress. This ambitious project has grown to over 40 active members, all collaborating to meet critical milestones. With our Preliminary Design Review (PDR) scheduled for a week after Thanksgiving, we're excited to showcase our work and refine our design further. Stay tuned for updates on Slack and email as we advance toward our cold flow and hot fire!
Goals for Next Year
Looking ahead, our priority is ensuring that Fountain Hopper is prepared for rigorous testing phases and advancing the design for the hybrid engine. We’ll use the coming months to solidify our propulsion, landing, and control systems, leading up to competitive events in 2025. For HPRCC, we aim to facilitate more certifications and further build on our launch success with an expanded team and more opportunities for skill-building in rocketry.
Let's keep pushing forward toward launch-ready status and another successful year for the SSI Rockets Division!
Abelle Jayadinata ([email protected]) ‘26
Francisco Ortiz ([email protected]) ‘25
Satellites
SSI Satellites Project Division: 2023-24 Mission Report
Mission Details
Name: SAMWISE
Launch Date: Oct 2025
Satellite specifications: 2U CubeSat, (10cm x 10cm x 22.7cm, 0.220kg)
Payload: RPi optical camera, wildfire smoke-sensing software.
Leads: Sage Wu, Niklas Vainio, Hunter Liu
Mission Status
Onboarding
We saw record levels of participation during Fall Quarter onboarding. In the history of Satellites, there have never been as many new faces as in 2023-24! A variety of workshops and demos helped everyone catch up to speed. New members had hands-on opportunities to build radio modules and communicate with each other using them, to debug and fix real Satellite flight code, as well as almost immediately join existing projects for our SAMWISE satellite.
Preparing for Flight
Our satellite (SAMWISE) is scheduled for launch in October 2025 aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-15 mission. We pushed our original launch date back by one year to give ourselves extra time to improve upon and test mission-critical systems, as well as to discuss the integration of a potential new software payload for wildfire sensing in California.
The team has made massive strides in preparing SAMWISE to be flight-ready. This includes finishing the electronics for our 433MHz radio ground station, which can be used to talk to SAMWISE in its 500 km altitude orbit; revamping and improving on our main flight code; implementing a newer, more efficient solar charger as compared to previous missions; and crafting an entire satellite structure out of aluminum parts, alongside many other developments!
Shock & Vibe Test
At the end of Winter Quarter, there was a flurry of activity as we prepared SAMWISE’s first prototype for a Shock & Vibe Test (the point of the test being to see whether the satellite can stay intact after simulating the rough jitters of a rocket launch). This included half of us staying up until 5am to finish assembling and integrating all the subsystems, while the other half got up at 5am to drive to Santa Clara for the test. Music was blasting through our DIY speaker system; boba breaks were being taken in the open-air of a cool, Californian evening; and a video for social-media was being filmed, which to all of our surprises, reached ~60k views on Instagram!
The Shock & Vibe was a success, with all of our mechanical structures remaining strong and intact!
Goals for Next Year
Our main priority moving forward is gearing up for launch in October next year. We’re maximizing our time over the Summer to engineer, operate, and test a prototype of SAMWISE, which will run in Packard (the EE building) for months, simulating the duration of a real mission. In the Fall, we’ll finish what’s left of our electronics systems and clean up our code-base. The rest of the time after that is for testing, testing, and more testing. The team is focused on making sure that our systems are as fault-tolerant as possible.
Sage Wu ([email protected]) ‘27
Niklas Vainio ([email protected]) ‘26
Hunter Liu ([email protected]) ‘24
Astrobiology
Some announcements:
Rebranding!! Now people outside of SSI can immediately understand the mission of our group. Website! https://spacebiology.squarespace.com/
Here’s what we’ve been up to this year! In April we got to tour a Cryo-EM lab at SLAC and see the cutting edge of imaging and modeling (upper right). We ordered some tardigrades and began testing them to their limits (upper left). We exposed them to extreme UV radiation, hydrogen peroxide concentrations, desiccation, and starvation and gave them qualitative health scores on a population level. It wasn’t pretty, but we had a ton of fun and learned a lot!
Stanford hosted STEMfest in March for families to tour labs and participate in activities led by clubs and labs. The Astrobiology team had a Space Safari! Kids ran around Stanford’s Engineering Quad looking for puzzle pieces with clues of alien life written on the back. When they added them to the puzzle, we could see what scientists guessed real aliens would look like (and they got a rocket/amoeba keychain :) .
We tried some awesome freeze dried ice cream and candy (bottom left) for our movie nights. One scene from The Martian inspired a new project for the fall, the Potato Garden. We’re aiming to grow potatoes in Martian regolith simulant and lighting conditions. This summer we borrowed a bioprinter and are playing with bioprinting (top middle). Finally, we had a bit of an experiment with a biodegradable rocket called Sugar Cane that we would like to explore. Sugar Cane had a bamboo airframe, bamboo tube fins, and sugar motor (bottom right). Sugar Cane 2.0 will be grown in a mold using fungal mycelia, complete with a fungus parachute!
Ginger Buck ([email protected]) ‘25
Jake Rintamaki ([email protected]) ‘26
Operations
So far, we’ve been up to some incredible organizational adventures! In Spring of last year, Operations organized admit weekend events and our lovely retreat, and with SSI coming back in full force this Fall, Operations has been largely behind our onboarding expeditions and successful alumni reunion.
Community is everything to us, and that was clear as space (saw what I did there?) with our introduction to SSI in Admit Weekend. Between events at Terman Fountain, tabling rounds to involve eager newcomers, and plenty of nourishment for the intellectually (and very) hungry ProFros, increasing recruitment for SSI throughout the cornerstone event was a massive success. Our retreat, soon after, helped us come even closer together as scholars and students; a triumph in and of itself.
And my goodness, did we come back with a vengeance this fall! With some new members on Ops and tons of allies across our fellow teams, we were able to organize onboarding events in Hewlett, initial team presentations to our frosh, and tabled during FestiFall with our rockets and
team spirit attracting many onlookers. Our first task, then, was to organize an alumni reunion event, mobilizing our newer members and leadership alike to hear from the individuals we inherited SSI from, building bridges and expanding our ever-growing love for all things Space with many vectors, from business, engineering, and law to enjoyment and pizza at Treehouse soon after.
Scenes from our first general meeting (~200 new members!) and tabling for Festifall.
Alumni reunion at Treehouse!
This year, Operations is looking forward to expanding our reach as a team, and across other teams, with a diverse and powerful cohort as the business driving force behind SSI’s collective advancement. Between organizing guest speakers, key events, and team workshops, we hope to keep SSI running smoothly and thriving, the way we know it always has. Ad Astra!
Ria Bahadur ([email protected]) ‘27
Policy
Our October Space Law Discussion Club has been a highlight, in collaboration with the Stanford Science Policy Group, a graduate student organization on campus. From law graduate students to first-year undergraduates, we had insightful discussions on space-related policy topics, including Kessler syndrome and space debris. Next up, we're planning joint discussion clubs with the Stanford Space Law Society and covering new topics, such as ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) policies.
Discussion club meeting, where we talked about Kessler Syndrome + space debris!
This year, the Policy Team also took on the role of Licensing Team for SSI! Our work includes managing licensing for our new rocket projects like Spaceshot, an SSI rocket that will aim to reach the Karman line, and for our upcoming satellite SAMWISE, set for launch in October 2025. This includes licensing with FCC, NOAA, ITU, IARU, and Stanford administration to ensure compliance.
This year, we’re excited to have a diverse representation in our team from across campus including graduate students from law and business, and undergraduates from other engineering schools. We’re streamlining our documentation for communicating with regulatory authorities and identifying ways in which we can foster wider awareness for commercialization of space and democratization of accessibility. We brainstormed exciting ideas for advocacy at our first meeting and are looking forward to exploring how to best enable Stanford’s representation through national and international policy portals.
Behind-the-scenes of our Spaceshot rocket project!
Satellites team licensing onboard meeting - learning how to license a CubeSat!
Stay tuned as we continue expanding our involvement in shaping SSI’s policy and licensing directions!
Nishi Kelkar ([email protected]) MBA student
Mars
TRIPLE THREAT: Mars 2024
Heya SSI family,
We’re building! We’re driving! And we’re…. Sailing?
It’s been a crazily awesome year here at Mars. We’ve had one of the best onboarding seasons ever, deployed a self-driving full-size rover, designed and developed a full-scale 3D printer, and launched an ambitious new project to robotically explore platenary oceans.
Rover
Leads: Jay Siskind (‘26), Connor Hoffman (‘27)
We left off last year with a testbed rover and a bunch of excitement for what’s ahead. This year, this excitement turns into an exciting reality, with a majestic, full-size rover to match.
Complete with remote-driving capabilities and automatic navigation, we created a rover that can navigate any path automatically, avoid obstacles, and stream live camera and science: anywhere in the world, thanks to a working Starlink system.
Next year, we are excited to take this one step further: after hardening our system in power throughput and control connections, exciting adventures lie ahead to test our system in freezing environments and snowy peaks.
Bricks
Leads: Will Neal-Boyd. (‘26), Lisa Zhang (‘27)
It’s a full-size printer!
The team worked hard to scale up the awesome printer design that created samples which traveled to the ISS. We spent the year designing the nozzle and extrusion system, allowing smooth output even under high pressures and low gravities.
Come fall, we will kick off a flurry of activity to finalize this design—creating the final outer structure of the printer that will serve as the bedrock of the next-generation of building materials.
Europa
Leads: Angelina Krinos (‘24), Andrew Lesh (‘22 Cohort, Ph.D. Student)
Exciting plans emerge for a new project, and we are excited to explore non-solid surfaces of Earth and Beyond! In fact, we are already hard at work this summer!
This is an exciting opportunity for new members to see the types of engineering from the Mars team: we are working on developing a solar powered boat across open oceans, a deep-diving (ROV) with video feed, and the world’s cheapest benthic landers. New opportunities await to explore sea life on earth, and understand moons and planets beyond!
This has been a wonderful and exhilarating year at the Mars team—filled with scaling the prototypes of last year to working viable products, all while doing what we do best: combining physical, software, and electrical engineering with a bent towards robotics and automation. We are excited to explore new horizons in our planet, its cousins, and planets beyond. I cannot wait to see what we cook up in the coming year.
Ad astra,
Houjun Liu ([email protected]) ‘27
Sydney Bohles ([email protected]) ‘26
Euclid Soringa ([email protected]) ‘25
Until next time, AD ASTRA!!!