FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The University of Arkansas' first satellite has been deployed by NASA into low Earth orbit from SpaceX Falcon 9 after being launched in March on an International Space Station mission. ARKSat-1, the university's first CubeSat, a nearly 4-inch cube, will aim to observe Earth's climate and composition of atmospheric gases.
The satellite was sent to space as part of NASA's Educational Launch of Nanosatellites 50 (ELaNa 50) mission and their CubeSat Launch Initiative which aims to provide low-cost access to space for U.S. educational institutions and non-profits.
The development of the university's CubeSat was led by Adam Huang, associate professor of mechanical engineering, in the Engineered Micro/Nano-Systems Laboratory.
ARKSat-1 will emit a light to be tracked by terrestrial telescopes to measure the composition and concentration of various atmospheric gases in order to observe Earth's climate.
The satellite is also equipped with deorbit technology developed by Morgan Roddy, a doctoral student in the Microelectronics-Photonics program, who won second place in a student design competition at the University Nanosatellite Engineering Consortium’s Global Meeting in Varna, Bulgaria for this development. The deorbiter will reduce space debris from small satellites by inflating a thin-membrane balloon that will increase drag on a satellite during reentry into Earth's atmosphere. This will cause the satellite to burn up and disintegrate in the atmosphere.
Huang said the mission is expected to last three months.
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