Contact the Lab!

Student Programs Manager:

Ralph Quartiano | email

Student Facilities Manager:

Sam Luttringer | email

332 EE East, University Park, PA 16802

Lab Phone Number: (814)-867-2256

Faculty Director:
Dr. Sven Bilén | email
213 N Hammond Bldg, University Park, PA 16802

Get Involved!

SSPL exists thanks to the dedication of countless students, the guidance of faculty, and the generous support of our sponsors. If you’d like to become involved in SSPL, whether you are a student, faculty member, or potential sponsor, this page will guide you to the appropriate point of contact.

Previous experience, while appreciated, is never a requirement for starting on SSPL projects. A good way to become involved is to simply stop by the Lab during the week or swing by one of our projects’ meetings. Times and points of contact are listed below.

SSPL Student Listserv

The SSPL Student listserv is an excellent way to stay informed about the current SSPL projects and opportunities available to students and ways to get involved. The listserv is primarily used for three reasons:

  1. To distribute periodic state-of-the-lab newsletters
  2. To announce needs and positions within SSPL projects
  3. To announce scholarships and employment (full-time and coop/internship) opportunities

To subscribe to the SSPL student listserv, request access from Ralph Quartiano (ralph@psu.edu). You can unsubscribe at any time.

SSPL Public Listserv

The public listserv distributes much less frequent messages–typically only announcements of local SSPL public events and semi-annual newsletters. This is geared mostly to alumni and prospective students.

To subscribe to the SSPL public listserv, please send a blank email to: L-SSPL-Public-subscribe-request@lists.psu.edu. You can unsubscribe at any time.


Student Training Program (STP)

Any student may join the Student Training Program (STP) team to design, build, and fly a small rocket payload in a single semester. The program involves developing a payload which will collects data (including video) as it ascends in a rocket and descends via parachute. This is a great way to quickly pick up engineering and soft skills and is highly recommended for new lab members and those who want to hone existing skills.

New teams are formed at the beginning of each semester, but anyone is welcome to join at any time during the semester.

Contact: Joe Broniszewski (jpb6292@psu.edu)
Meeting time: Sundays at 6pm in 101 EE East


Infrastructure Development

In addition to flight and training programs, the lab develops capabilities in support of ongoing and planned missions. Initiated as a result of the OSIRIS-3U CubeSat mission, the following projects are underway:

Ground Station:GroundStation_Dish

This project seeks to establish a communications ground station capable of tracking and communicating with SSPL technology in space. Engineering this system involves work with control systems; control, communications, and orbit propagation software; and radio modulation and demodulation hardware and software.

Contact: Tyler Sengia (txs5620@psu.edu)

Ground Software:

The ground software team develops applications that process, interpret, and manage data moving to and from the communications ground station. These applications allow mission operations teams to remotely operate SSPL technology in orbit as well as acquire and process downlinked data.

Contact: Dylan Kozicki (dmk5500@psu.edu)