CubeSat team makes its pitch
<p>Ivan Alonso, part of the flight crew team with xCraft, makes calibrations to one of the company's drone models during a recent shift at the Coeur d'Alene office. North Idaho STEM Charter Academy CubeSat team members presented a business pitch to xCraft on Friday morning in hopes the company will partner with them as they progress with Project DaVinci.</p>
North Idaho STEM Charter Academy's CubeSat team pitched a sponsorship opportunity to xCraft on Friday morning and is waiting for the drone company's decision.
The presentation was an overview of "Project DaVinci," the team's nanosatellite plan that has been selected to participate in NASA's CubeSat Space mission, which launches in June 2017. Two of the CubeSat student leads gave a PowerPoint presentation and showed xCraft staff the schematics of what their three-unit nanosatellite will look like upon completion, among other details of the project.
Devyn Miller, xCraft's community manager, said she was quite impressed with the team and the pitch.
"They just kind of rocked that presentation," Miller said. "I think they're approaching it really well. They came in really professional. Even in college, I haven't seen projects that were that well-presented."
Beth Brubaker, an instructor at the academy who is serving as the project's educational lead, said the students are looking at needing a budget of $100,000 to complete "Project DaVinci." She said during the business pitch, sophomores Jessica Millard and Joe Broder discussed several aspects of a partnership between the CubeSat team and xCraft.
"They talked about the benefits of xCraft becoming a sponsor to having their name on a satellite up in space," Brubaker said. "That's pretty good advertising."
Miller said xCraft feels very fortunate to be one of the first businesses approached by the young entrepreneurs, who made quite an impression on xCraft staff.
"I think that they're going to do really well," she said.
She said xCraft staff members have a lot to discuss regarding funding and sponsorship options for the CubeSat team.
"It is under discussion. We haven't come to a conclusion yet, but that is something that we'll discuss with them," she said, adding she hopes a decision will be made early next week rather than later in the week.
"I really hope the best for them," Miller said. "I don't think they'll have any problem reaching their goals."
Brubaker said this project is a perfect match for the academy's mission, which is to provide project-based learning. The students are handling everything — from the business plan to the accounting to community outreach and blueprints.
"This is as real-world, hands-on and high-level learning as one can imagine," she said. "This is incredibly exciting."
Brubaker said the students have set up various levels of sponsorship for those in the community who would like to contribute to their project. Anyone interested can email Brubaker at bbrubaker@northidahostem.org.