AMSAT Going GOLFing With NASA

NASA has selected two AMSAT "GOLF" satellites to be part of its CubeSat Launch Initiative, or CSLI. GOLF stands for "Greater Orbit, Larger Footprint" than standard low-Earth orbit (LEO) cubesats. GOLF-TEE (Technology Evaluation Environment) will serve as a rapidly deployable LEO testbed for technologies to be used in CubeSat missions to a variety of orbits, according to the AMSAT News Service (ANS). 

GOLF-1, according to NASA,"is an educational mission that will host two-way amateur radio communications, analog and digital transponders, and two experiment payloads provided by students." ANS says AMSAT must still work out a "Cooperative Research and Development Agreement" with NASA for each satellite in order to finalize their selection. Target launch dates are late next year for GOLF-TEE and sometime in the 2020-21 timeframe for GOLF-1.
 

Another satellite chosen by NASA for this program will be designed and built by middle school students in Tennessee, with support from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It will study reforestation patterns in areas affected by forest fires.