CubeSat Design Specification (CDS Rev. 14.1) & PC/104 Architecture

Mechanical, electrical, and operational requirements of Cal Poly’s CubeSat Design Specification Rev. 14.1 (1U–12U), corner rail tolerances, separation switches, and the 90×96 mm PC/104 avionics stack.

Document
SQ-FF-007
Updated
22 Oct 2026
Reading time
2 min
In this tab

Purpose of the CDS#

The CubeSat Design Specification (), maintained by California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly SLO), defines the standardized mechanical, electrical, and operational contract between a U-class nanosatellite and its containerized orbital deployer[1]. Originally introduced in 1999 by Jordi Puig-Suari and Robert J. Twiggs[2][3], Revision 14.1 covers 1U, 1.5U, 2U, 3U, 6U, and 12U spacecraft envelopes and raises the baseline 1U mass limit from 1.33 kg to 2.00 kg.

Corner Rails vs. Sliding Backplates#

Unlike PocketQubes—which slide on a single 1.6 mm thick baseplate tab—a CubeSat rides on four corner rails along its and edges[4]. Each rail must provide a minimum contact width of 8.5 mm and a surface roughness , per MIL-A-8625 Type III to prevent against the deployer guide rails in vacuum[1].

References

  1. [1]The CubeSat Program, Cal Poly SLO. (2022). CubeSat Design Specification, Rev. 14.1 (CP-CDS-R14.1). California Polytechnic State University.nasa.gov
  2. [2]Heidt, H., Puig-Suari, J., Moore, A. S., Nakasuka, S., & Twiggs, R. J. (2000). CubeSat: a new generation of picosatellite for education and industry low-cost space experimentation. In: 14th Annual AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites (SSC00-V-5).
  3. [3]Puig-Suari, J., Turner, C., & Ahlgren, W. (2001). Development of the standard CubeSat deployer and a CubeSat class PicoSatellite. In: 2001 IEEE Aerospace Conference Proceedings, vol. 1 (347–353).doi:10.1109/AERO.2001.931726
  4. [4]nadir lab. (2026). PocketQube picosatellites: A review of standards, mission trends and miniaturization constraints, with lessons learned from Grizu-263A, Türkiye’s first PocketQube [Preprint]. nadir lab.Read on nadir lab.
  5. [5]NASA CubeSat Launch Initiative. (2017). CubeSat 101: Basic Concepts and Processes for First-Time CubeSat Developers. NASA.nasa.gov(accessed 20 October 2026)

Cite this SatWiki entry

@misc{nadirlab2026cubesat,
  author       = {{nadir lab.}},
  title        = {{CubeSat Design Specification (CDS Rev. 14.1) \& PC/104 Architecture}},
  year         = {2026},
  month        = oct,
  howpublished = {nadir lab. SatWiki SQ-FF-007 (Rev. 1)},
  url          = {https://nadirlab.space/en/wiki/cubesat-standard-cds/}
}