Bob Twiggs

Bob Twiggs (born 1935) is an American aerospace engineer, educator and small satellite pioneer, best known for co-inventing the CubeSat reference design with Jordi Puig-Suari. Born on a potato farm in Idaho, he earned electrical engineering degrees at the University of Idaho and Stanford University and served in the United States Air Force as a radar technician before working in industry on high-power microwave tubes and software. From 1985 to 1994 he directed the Center for Aerospace Technology at Weber State University, where he led NUSAT, the first student-built satellite from the United States. At Stanford from 1994 he established the Space Systems Development Laboratory, an early center for student-built satellites. He later became a professor at Morehead State University, where he developed the PocketQube, and he also contributed to the CanSat and ThinSat concepts. His teaching philosophy was learning by building, and his awards include the 2024 Frank J. Malina Astronautics Medal.