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SEDSAT-1, signifying Students for the Exploration and Development of Space Satellite number one, is being developed at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. The SEDSAT-1 project has grown from two students and their mentors to an international project funded by NASA, DARPA, and major corporations. SEDSAT-1 will have significant impact on space education, amateur radio communications, and space utilization. SEDSAT-1 is scheduled for launch on a Delta II in mid-1998, as a secondary payload on the JPL DS-1 mission. On-orbit, SEDSAT-1 will be a unique resource for education and research. In its orbital configuration the satellite will:

• Provide multi-spectral remote sensing to the broadest possible community. The cameras will collect in narrow wave bands chosen to coordinate with ground based observations across the U.S. Unlike other remote sensing systems, the data will be broadly accessible because will be entirely public domain, and because its communication system will be integrated into the World-Wide-Web.

• Serve as a development platform for advanced microsatellite position determination and control algorithms. The satellite will demonstrate a unique attitude determination system and new technology in active microsatellite control.

• Provide the amateur radio community with digital packet store-and-forward and analog repeater systems

• Generate new data on the space performance of NiMh batteries and advanced electronic components.

• Provide additional opportunities for space studies because of its extensive reprogrammability, on board GPS, and other flexible instruments. As an example, we are developing an experiment to demonstrate mobile IP on SEDSAT allowing SEDSAT to appear as an active node on the Internet.