This is a rather ambitious project, especially for me considering I don't really have the full skill set necessary for it. But hey, that's part of the fun, right?

In my mind, the biggest hurdle in this project is going to be power. Satellites live and die by the amount of power they are able to absorb, and if you look at the available surface area on a 1U cube, it really isn't that much. Especially when you consider that you will loose some large chunks of the surface area to cutouts for connectors, structural elements, and the fact that your solar cells will not be able to cover the surface perfectly. When it is all said and done, I will be surprised if I end up with something close to 70% surface coverage. In reality, it will probably be lower.

What does this mean? It means that the Power System has to form the foundation of this project. Without a robust high efficiency power system, this doesn't stand a chance at succeeding...