A comparative analysis of project management and systems engineering techniques in CubeSat projects

Since the start of CubeSat development different universities and organisations have succeeded in launching and operating their own satellites. Each of these institutes has their own ways in which these projects are organised.Furthermore each project has its own design philosophy and heritage that influence the project. What all these projects do share is a common set of standard CubeSat requirements and similar handbooks on Project Management and Systems Engineering (PMSE). Furthermore the general development time and workforce behind the project are also similar for all institutes. With this in mind it is interesting to investigate where the resulting projects and CubeSats differ and learning opportunities arrise.