{"id":22406,"date":"2017-10-12T13:46:09","date_gmt":"2017-10-12T17:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sciencescosmaincms.cm.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=22406"},"modified":"2017-11-09T13:00:37","modified_gmt":"2017-11-09T18:00:37","slug":"team-building-mini-satellite-fly-space-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/team-building-mini-satellite-fly-space-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Team Building Mini Satellite to Fly in Space in 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

by Zenaida Gonzalez Kotala<\/em><\/p>\n

A team of UCF researchers and their students is building a small satellite that will conduct experiments as it orbits the Earth next year.<\/p>\n

The NASA-funded project code-named Q-PACE will help Physics Professor Joshua Colwell and his team better understand how planets form. The experiments involve marble-sized particles and what happens when they collide at low speeds in space. The project also helps UCF with one of its core missions \u2013 teaching students.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are always looking for ways to give students practical experience,\u201d Colwell said. \u201cQ-PACE is a unique opportunity because it gives students hands-on experience working with a space instrument as well as learning what it takes to work with a team. And the project isn\u2019t just theoretical. Our experiments will give us valuable data to help us unravel the mystery of how planets formed in our solar system and around other stars. They are contributing to real science.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colwell knows real science. He has worked on a number of NASA missions, including the recently concluded Cassini mission that explored Saturn and its rings. His co-investigators \u2013 Assistant Professor Adrienne Dove and Florida Space Institute Research Scientist Julie Brisset \u2013 also have a lot of experience in the area of microgravity. They also share the desire to teach the next generation of scientists.<\/p>\n

Trisha Joseph, an Orlando native, is planning on becoming a mission specialist for NASA after she graduates from UCF. She is majoring in mechanical engineering and was thrilled that Colwell took a chance on her.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a great opportunity to learn hard and soft skills,\u201d Joseph said. \u201cWhen I started as a sophomore a lot of things were over my head, but working with other students and under Dr. Colwell I\u2019ve learned so much. I received so much guidance and stuff they can\u2019t teach you in school, like the etiquette of working on a professional team. I feel super blessed.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she can\u2019t wait to see the images beamed back from space once the experiments start running.<\/p>\n

The cube satellite will perform more than 100 experiments and a high-speed video camera will capture all the action. Then the satellite will transmit the images by radio back to a ground station students are building at UCF. That\u2019s added another layer of complexity to the project, said Doug Maukonen, a co-principal investigator. He is an engineer and research technician working in Colwell\u2019s Center for Microgravity Research.<\/p>\n

The students are also using magnets to create a lightweight and efficient attitude control system to keep the satellite oriented in the right direction while running the experiments. There are existing navigation systems the team could have used, Colwell said. But they would have been costly. So instead the team will build one and in the process learn how to troubleshoot by thinking outside the box.<\/p>\n

The satellite will orbit the Earth for three to five years. At the end of its mission it will fall into the Earth\u2019s atmosphere, burning up in the process.<\/p>\n

Aerospace engineering major Jacob Hambur, of Ft. Myers, said he likes the pressure of a \u201creal project.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSchool is good because it teaches you, but this is so much more because if you mess up here it\u2019s on you,\u201d he said. \u201cYou don\u2019t want to be the guy who messes up and now your project is in space and it doesn\u2019t work. The stakes are higher. I like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is one of two cube satellite projects currently being built at UCF, with Dove leading the SurfSat mission, also slated for launch next year. Maukonen said that one of the benefits of having students work on these projects is the skills they learn, which makes them attractive job candidates.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we have a 100 percent track record,\u201d Maukonen said. \u201cWe have our graduates working at places like NASA and JPL.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the original story<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Zenaida Gonzalez Kotala A team of UCF researchers and their students is building a small satellite that will conduct experiments as it orbits the Earth next year. The NASA-funded project code-named Q-PACE will help Physics Professor Joshua Colwell and his team better understand how planets form. The experiments involve marble-sized particles and what happens […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":22407,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[39,13,14,15,28,29],"tags":[112,5098,5097,5099,1325,1859,1880,2376,5095,5100,5096],"class_list":["post-22406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty-news","category-news","category-physics-departments","category-planetary-sciences","category-top-news","category-ucf-news","tag-adrienne-dove","tag-colwells-center-for-microgravity-research","tag-cube-satellite","tag-doug-maukonen","tag-florida-space-institute","tag-joshua-colwell","tag-julie-brisset","tag-nasa","tag-q-pace","tag-surfsat-mission","tag-trisha-joseph"],"yoast_head":"\nTeam Building Mini Satellite to Fly in Space in 2018 - College of Sciences News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/team-building-mini-satellite-fly-space-2018\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Team Building Mini Satellite to Fly in Space in 2018 - College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Zenaida Gonzalez Kotala A team of UCF researchers and their students is building a small satellite that will conduct experiments as it orbits the Earth next year. 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