UMass Lowell students will build a satellite with $200K from NASA
And it will orbit the Earth in 2018.
NASA is awarding a group of UMass Lowell students $200,000 to design and build a satellite that will orbit the Earth in 2018, according to a press release from the school.
More than 50 science and engineering students are developing the “SPACE HUAC” (pronounced “space hawk”) satellite, which NASA plans to send into orbit for a yearlong mission to test its ability to collect and transmit research data quicker than similar satellites before it. NASA awarded the students the money because it deemed the students’ “SPACE HAUC” proposal a “top-notch training program,” according to university officials.
The satellite’s goal is to transmit data at up to 50 to 100 megabits per second, which is much faster than current models. The satellite will take images of the sun and return them to Earth.
“SPACE HAUC will give me and my fellow students valuable hands-on experience in astronautical engineering research and development,” said the project’s program manager Dat Le, a mechanical engineering major from Billerica, in a statement.
The satellite will weigh 9 pounds and measure a foot long and 4 inches in width and height. It’s called a “CubeSat,” which means it’s a smaller, low-cost alternative to larger models. The satellite will reach altitudes of 99 to 1,200 miles while circling the Earth, which it will do about every 90 minutes at about 17,000 miles per hour. Four solar panels will supply electricity to power the satellite’s electronics.
The funding is through NASA’s Undergraduate Student Instrument Project, which encourages college students to use their technical, leadership, and project-management skills for real NASA missions. Physics professors Supriya Chakrabarti and Timothy Cook of the university’s Lowell Center for Space Science and Technology are advising the students on the project.
The satellite is named after UMass Lowell’s athletic teams, the River Hawks. The acronym “SPACE HUAC” stands for Science Program Around Communications Engineering with High-Achieving Undergraduate Cadres.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com