The Cislunar Explorers team from Cornell University has created a satellite from readily available materials. The satellite, which is no bigger than a small box, runs on water. This satellite is expected to orbit the moon and if successful mark a breakthrough in green energy satellite systems in the future.

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Led by Mason Peck, a former senior NASA official who is an Associate Professor in mechanical and space engineering, the team built the box-shaped satellite which consists of two L-shaped halves that will finally detach once they are in space. The satellite will be powered by periodic bursts of energy coming from the combustion of gasses created by electrolysis. Once in space, the satellite will find its way using optical navigation techniques that rely on taking photos of the Earth, Moon, and Sun and comparing the distances of each of them.

The event is expected to make history as this will be the smallest satellite to ever orbit the moon propelled by water alone. The attempt is a part of the team's participation in the Cube Quest Challenge.

Funded by NASA's Space Technology Mission's Centennial Challenge Program, the challenge offers a $5 million prize to the team that can design, build and deploy a satellite near the moon for successful operation. While the Cornell team wishes to finish among the top three, they have higher ambitions.

To be able to demonstrate that a satellite as small as theirs can withstand the forces that interplay after deployment outside the earth's atmosphere and that a satellite can successfully function on water as its fuel is one of the higher ambitions of the team.

While the actual journey of the satellite will begin in 2018 atop one of NASA's rockets, what the team has already succeeded in doing is creating a compact design using materials that are cheap and readily available. By achieving this, they have so far been one of the most impressive teams in the tournament.