Space Systems Laboratory

High-Altitude Balloon Launch!

storabi2 — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 01:53:46 +0000

HAMSTER-4 (High Altitude Multi-payload Student Teaching and Educational Resource) is Kentucky Space’s fifth high-altitude balloon mission, and is set to launch on April 06, 2012 carrying a senior design project for controlled descent named CoDeBReAKeR. Click HERE to see our main HAMSTER-4 page for more information.

Videos

storabi2 — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 20:45:04 +0000

Click HERE to see our Space Systems Lab videos.

CubeLab Operations

storabi2 — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 20:06:19 +0000

KySat-1 Launch Information

storabi2 — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 17:10:10 +0000

At 05:09:43 EST Friday March, 4 2011 the Taurus-XL carrying the NASA Glory Satellite and the Kentucky Satellite (KySat-1) lifted off from Vandenberg Air force base in southern California. At 05:15 EST (T+6:00) the NASA launch director declared a “Launch Contingency” indicating that the vehicle would not achieve orbit.

Despite the fact that the KySat-1 Satellite failed to reach the ultimate goal of orbiting Earth, the team successfully delivered a fully tested and flight qualified satellite that would have performed it’s mission flawlessly had it achieved orbit. While the team is truly disappointed about the failure of the launch vehicle, this event underscores the complexity and the challenges inherent in space exploration. The
experience gained in developing the satellite, qualifying it to NASA’s
standards, and preparing it for launch has been invaluable and it is
this experience that will carry the team forward as we continue to
strive to extend Kentucky’s presence in space

KySat-1

storabi2 — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 01:55:33 +0000

KySat-1 is the state of Kentucky’s first satellite that was entirely designed, built, and tested by university students. The primary mission is educational outreach to both the university students who worked on the satellite and to K-12 students and teachers, ultimately providing opportunities for hands-on learning in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) disciplines. Once in orbit, the satellite will transmit on amateur radio bands allowing communication between ground and orbit with standard HAM radio equipment. To this end, the satellite payload includes a digital camera and high bandwidth S-band radio to permit photo downloads, as well as a high powered UHF/VHF radio to allow satellite communication using small portable ground stations that can be easily set up on the playground or parking lot of a school.

Lesson plans and equipment loan programs are being developed for teachers to augment STEM lessons in the classroom. The KySat-1 program is managed by the nonprofit organization Kentucky Space while design, construction, and testing occurred at the University of Kentucky in Lexington and Morehead State University. Ground stations at both universities will track the satellite once in orbit. Students at both schools will jointly manage a website for students, teachers, and the general public, to providing constant updates of KySat-1’s location and telemetry.

Space Systems Laboratory

ssl — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 20:57:10 +0000

The Space Systems Lab offers unique and interesting challenges to students from disciplines across the College of Engineering. Working on complex and highly integrated aerospace projects allows a student to gain experience working with teams of students from different engineering fields as well as with engineers from NASA and industry. Projects include developing, as well as providing the first payload to, a new research standard aboard the International Space Station, developing the first student built satellite to be launched with a NASA mission, and being the first to bring the CubeSat standard to sub-orbital space. In addition, students are involved in developing the infrastructure to support these missions including a thermal vacuum chamber, vibration facility, clean room, and a six monitor console station to support the efforts on the ISS. The Space Systems Lab has a long history of success in developing Small Space and we are looking forward to continuing that tradition.