Michigan Tech Students Put Their First Satellite Into Space

A satellite built by students at Michigan Tech is currently orbiting the earth helping to track the multitude of other man-made objects circulating the globe.

The nanonsatellite Oculus ASR was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida last month aboard the Space X Falcon Heavy rocket.

MTU Professor Brad King said students from the university designed and built every aspect of the satellite.  “They did the whole thing,” he said.  “Every component of the satellite was designed by the students, was mostly manufactured by the students–we have to send some things out for manufacturing—and then it was assembled by the students and tested by the students, so this is an undergraduate student project from tip to tail.”

The US Air Force and Michigan Tech will work together to monitor and compare the data from the satellite and so far the results look good.

King said, “It’s performing flawlessly. It’s doing everything it needs to do. The Air Force is imaging it. It has a nominally six month mission. It will survive longer than six months but we can achieve all of our objectives in the first six months and anything after that is just kind of a bonus.”

After the Oculus-ASR has completed its mission, it will descend back to Earth where it’s expected to burn up in the atmosphere, but students at Michigan Tech are already working on other space projects.

For more on the launch and the Aerospace Enterprise, read Huskies In Space on Michigan Tech News.