Group History
The University of Florida began it's SmallSat activities in the fall of 2004. Fourteen undergraduate aerospace engineering students enrolled for Dr. Norman Fitz-Coy's Space Systems Design course decided to accept the challenge offered by the 1st annual Florida University Satellite Competition to propose a Cubesat mission. The team formed as the Gossamer Gators. They submitted a Preliminary Design Report in Dec '05. The team was awarded $1K to write and present an Engineering Model Report of their proposed design. Tom Cowan, the project lead, presented at the Kennedy Space Center amidst other Florida universities and technical judges. Embry-Riddle won FUNSAT I.
Three team members: (Dante Buckley, Tom Cowan, and Jim Van Pelt), co-authored a paper for the 13th Annual Frank J. Redd Student Competition, "A Gossamer Technology Demonstrator for Deorbiting Pico-Satellites." The paper was selected from an international pool of contestants to present at the technical session. The trio was awarded a $1K scholarship at the Banquet dinner.
With this momentum, the FUNSAT participants drafted a constitution and formed the Small Satellite Design Club, SSDC in the Fall of 2005 as a technical society within the Benton Engineering Council. Two projects were on the table: GSAT and C-CLEO. An SBIR, Small Business Independent Research, focused on developing an improved Inflate-a-Brake (IAB) design. Several IAB prototypes were constructed for packaging inside a storage compartment inside GSAT, the name given to the UF Cubesat with the IAB mechanism.
While GSAT was maturing, highly motivated MAE undergraduates accepted the challenge of FUNSAT II. Led by Jeremy Sanford, the SSDC team volunteered their time to construct a PDR in Dec 05 known as the C-CLEO: Characterization of Cubesat in Low Earth Orbit. The PDR was awarded another $1K to proceed with a Detailed Design Report. Team members Matthew Sobieski, Veronica Arocho, Jeremy Sanford, and Dante Buckley presented C-CLEO's final design report at the Florida Space Authority. Embry-Riddle won FUNSAT II.
In April of 2006, Veronica Arocho, Dante Buckley, and Thomas Vu co-authored a paper for the 14th Annual Frank J. Redd Scholarship competition. The paper, "Thin Filmed De-orbiting Device for Pico-Satellites" placed 7th in the international student competition and was nearly selected to present at the 23rd Annual AIAA/USU Small Satellite Conference.
A milestone achievement for UF's smallsat activity occurred over the summer of 2006 as a special request submitted to the Student Government from the Gator Amateur Radio Club to upgrade their W4DFU club station. Upon defending the special request, the funding was awarded to the students to build the Gator Nation Earth Station. Thanks to everyone who contributed especially GARC members (Jeff Capehart - W4UFL and Dr. Garlitz - AA4FL), SSDC members (Irena Li and Tzu Yu "Jimmy" Lin- KI4REO), and AMSAT members (Lee McLamb - KU4OUS and Drew Glasbrenner - KO4MA). 
The first documented satellite QSO for W4DFU occurred on AO10 with a club station of Carnegie Mellon University in March 29,1985. The upgraded GNES made its first contact in Novermber of 2006 on AO-51 with LEO.
The space systems design class offered in the fall of 2006 continued the cubesat effort. Students were divided into teams and assigned a subsystem to research. At the end of the semester the results of the analyses were documented in final reports. 
A transition from undergraduate to graduate level participation occurred during the FUNSAT III phase. The TACTIC, Turnkey Attitude Control Inside Cubesats, was proposed which detailed the feasibility of a precision attitude control system inside of a cubesat. The ACS subsystem would be highlighted by a pyramidal configuration of the four single gimbaled control moment gyroscopes, SGCMGs. The TACTIC report was prepared by Frederick Leve and Dante Buckley and was presented at the Kennedy Space Center. The University of Central Florida won FUNSAT III.
In Fall 2007, the Space Systems Group took the initiative of the SmallSat activity at the University of Florida. The SSG submitted the ASTREC-1 Conceptual Design Report. The ASTREC-1 mission architecture is conveniently integrated into the subsystems. The CDR has received a $1K to be presented at the FUNSAT IV workshop at Cape Canaveral in May. We also plan on participating in the 22nd Annual AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites.