The reason we wanted to have the code itself in space is because there ARE things people can control on the sat (supervised by us): you can control the cameras, command the attitude control, and activate the antenna. We also thought it would be more rewarding for students who want to use the satellite to gain real experience in coding on real hardware.

The you're right about the commercial GPS, it wont return location data above a certain altitude. We want to use the commercial GPS for other experiments (it will still have some functions that work). We've also included a second space-rated GPS in the bus itself for the location data.

To help us bring down the integration/testing time, we've teamed up with the manufacturer of the components of the satellite, they will be using their facilities and engineers to make sure we deliver by 2013 launch date.

Let me know if there is anything I can address about the design!

Cheers, Joel