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Dream Big Mission
Time to launch.
Mission
The mission of the Dream Big Program is to INSPIRE, EQUIP and IMPACT the future STEM workforce by giving students a pathway to space! Working with our university partners in the tri-state area, with the goal of expanding nationwide, we intend to expand the opportunity for students to operate space-based programs in orbit!
Starting in Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio, NearSpace Education is partnering with various schools and universities to impact students with our new ThinSat mission. This mission is supported by NearSpace Launch, NASA, and Firefly. Over the summer and 2024-2025 school years, students will have the opportunity to design a 0.5U ThinSat CubeSat.
Spacecraft
The spacecraft for the Dream Big program represent a new generation 0.5U ThinSat CubeSat, designed by Near Space Launch. The new design is intended to increase the amount of available payload capacity over our previous ThinSat offerings, enabling many more students the opportunity to operate space-based programs in orbit!
Phase
1
For Phase one, we have partnered with 6 tri-state area colleges and universities, providing exposure to:
The phase one Dream Big Satellites will be launching into orbit in February of 2026 aboard SpaceX's Transporter-16 rideshare mission. Launching from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on a Falcon 9 rocket.
Phase
2
Over the next three years, the Dream Big: STEPS to Space program will give up to 900 Indiana students in grades 5–8 hands-on experience designing, testing, and flying real hardware to the edge of space.
Dream Big: STEPS to Space (Scalable Testing of Electronics and Programming by Students) removes traditional barriers to STEM education by immersing students in the full lifecycle of a real satellite mission.
Students learn coding using NASA educational materials and the Micro:bit Educational Foundation curriculum, then design experiments aligned with real NASA space missions.
Teams test their programmed micro:bit hardware on high-altitude balloon flights reaching the edge of space, hosted at public events across Indiana.
Each team contributes software that is integrated into a flight-ready micro:bit. One from every team of 30 will be selected for space.
Student-programmed hardware is flown aboard a NearSpace Launch TROOP 6U CubeSat, launching via SpaceX's Transporter mission.
Students track flight data, analyze results, and present their findings through reports, websites, and conferences — just like real mission teams.
NearSpace Education is partnering with leading science and education organizations across Indiana to host launches and outreach events statewide.
Each regional partner becomes a host site for the program. Students from the surrounding schools gather at the partner venue to watch a high-altitude balloon carrying student-built payloads lift off, track it through its climb, and see the data come back. Families, educators, and sponsors are invited, and the partner's own staff take part in running the event.
Spreading the launches across the state means students in every region get to stand at a launch site rather than watch one online, and each host organization gains a recurring public STEM event of its own.
Each partner will host high-altitude balloon launches and public STEM events, bringing the excitement of space exploration directly to students, families, educators, and sponsors in their communities.
Phase
3
Phase III will expand the program nationwide, inspiring and equipping college and high school students across the country. The national program aims to:
