This photo from space is of the North coast of Western Australia looking towards Port Hedland. It was recently taken by Vermont Technical College’s CubeSat, which launched in November.

The CubeSat is completely controlled by SPARK/Ada programs, including picture taking, storage on the SD card receiving download commands, and transmitting the photo to their ground station.

Vermont Tech’s CubeSat is the first satellite built by a college or university in New England to get off the ground. You can find out more about the CubeSat and its construction at cubesatlab.org.

[Photo copyright 2014 Vermont Tech CubeSat Lab.]