Marco Villa is hoping to take some digital photographs of Kansas – from 435 miles above the earth.

Villa, a graduate student from Italy, is leading a team of Kansas University students attempting to launch the first satellite wholly designed and built in this state.

“That’s what we’re aiming for,” Villa said of the photographs. “That would be so exciting. Imagine the good PR for KU.”

The KU satellite is a far cry from the massive orbiters often deployed by NASA.

Instead, the $8,000 satellite, called a CubeSat, is no bigger than a small box of tissues. It measures just 10 centimeters on each side and weighs 2.2 pounds, and it is built with many off-the-shelf electronics.

The project is part of a new wave of university-built satellites. About 40 are in production; six have been launched, with mixed results.