A down-to-earth satellite challenge...

Space... the final frontier. Despite existing for over 60 years, satellites are still something that most people think is beyond their reach.

With a few pieces of cheap equipment, some determination, and a computer, you too can receive signals from the sky. NyanSat is a guided challenge that walks you through building your own ground station to track satellites, receiving signals, understanding how data is encoded, and looking at images from space.

We can even send you a kit that will get you up and running in no time. If you're up for more of a challenge once you've learned how to work with satellites, make something cool based off what you learned - anything - and we'll get our panel of cool space people to judge it.

GET STARTED

Why?

For years, listening to satellites required complex and specialized equipment. That's changed. Software-defined radios are cheap and available everywhere, and antennas can be built for them with bits of metal, PVC, and tape. It's incredibly easy to interface with these devices through the myriad of software tools that have been developed, and you can write your own with a little effort. We've even built a miniature antenna tracker for you to help follow satellites across the sky. Now you can join in the democratization of space.