University of Arizona undergraduate students gears towards launching  at least one miniature satellite from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, scheduled 7 months from now.

Their modest but challenging 2001 space odyssey is the first step in a new program that UA and Stanford University faculty agree ultimately could send flotillas of scientifically productive mini-satellites as far as Mars.

Over the past few months, the UA Student Satellite Project (SSP) has been transformed into the UA Student Satellite Program, sponsored by the UA contingent of the Arizona Space Grant Consortium.

The new SSP will build a series of "CubeSats," tiny standardized spacecraft that can be designed, built, launched and operated in orbit by undergraduate students within one to a few semesters. Although each CubeSat is a mere 4- x 4- x 4-inch box weighing at most a kilogram (2.2 pounds), these space vehicles can be used for serious research.