From left: Savannah Krupa, Anna Meneely, Cass Blum, and Andrew Greenberg in Oxnard, CA dropping off OreSat0.5
In the basement of the Engineering Building at Portland State University (PSU), there is a lab with evidence of multiple projects underway: A big screen shows an image of the globe, tracking a satellite orbit. Shelves are loaded with circuit boards, metal parts, and soldering tools. Cylindrical segments of a disassembled rocket sit across from a heavy-duty metal structure covered in wires, tubes, and reinforced pipes – a rocket engine test stand. On one wall is a whiteboard covered in notes, calculations, and doodles, and at a large central table sit two students absorbed in their laptops.
The room has all the hallmarks of a thriving research lab. But it's not the lab of any PSU academic department or faculty-led research program. This lab is the headquarters of a student-led group: the Portland State Aerospace Society, or PSAS. Andrew Greenberg, a senior instructor in electrical & computer engineering, is the group's faculty advisor.
With leadership and participation spanning multiple disciplines, the group functions more like a startup or research collective than a typical campus club.
"We're a little outside of the norm for a student group," Greenberg admits, summing it up in one phrase: "We get grants." PSAS's work is supported by funding from many different organizations, including NASA, as well as partnerships with a variety of technology companies. Often the students write the proposals, too: Undergraduates are instrumental in every step of the process from finding grants, applying for them, managing the projects' budget, all the way through to writing final reports and presenting research posters.
Formed in 1998 and starting with amateur rocketry, the group has evolved over decades to launching Oregon's first satellite, OreSat0, in 2022. (Its successor in space now, OreSat0.5, is the satellite that's currently being tracked on the lab's live earth view.) The small satellite, known as a cubesat, includes solar panels, batteries, a color camera and a radio system. Its mission? To look at the upper atmosphere and track the distribution of cirrus clouds around the world.
The PSAS student group is currently working on four strategic projects:
Nanosatellites—satellites weighing between 1 and 10 kilograms—offer a low-cost, flexible, and accessible way to do space-based research and technology development. PSAS students have designed an original cubesat that can run multiple different research experiments within its casing, with sensors and circuit boards arranged on parallel racks. The satellite's design is open source and available for anyone to use.
For students, participating in PSAS offers an unparalleled opportunity to apply classroom knowledge to real-world challenges in aerospace engineering. In a friendly, low-risk environment where it's ok to fail, students experiment with rockets, satellites, and propulsion systems—gaining experience in design, fabrication, testing, and collaboration. Working on teams made up of students from different majors mirrors the structure of professional engineering projects, helping build both technical skills and the soft skills needed in industry.
"Experience like this – working on an interdisciplinary team – is what makes you a useful engineer. Students who have worked on these projects don't have any problem finding jobs," Greenberg said.
Beyond the technical achievements, PSAS fosters a unique learning environment where students take ownership of complex projects from start to finish. Whether it's designing flight hardware, writing code for satellite communications, or managing project timelines and budgets, students are deeply involved in every phase. The group’s open structure encourages mentorship between newer members and more experienced peers, creating a culture of shared learning and continuous improvement.
High on the wall of the PSAS laboratory, there's a twenty-three-foot-long printout of a rocket larger than any flown by the group before. It's aspirational: The group is working toward building this rocket, and launching it, within the next couple of years.