On October 4, 1957 the Council of Ministers of the USSR sent into a
270x920km orbit a sphere 23 inches in diameter that broadcast pressure
and temperature data and did more to recruit young students into a
career of space science and engineering than any single event before or
since. In the four months that followed American scientists scrambled
to modify an existing rocket payload for an orbital payload developed
by James Van Allen at the University of Iowa. This race to match or
beat the USSR in space science achievements caused the United States to
grow its technological prowess at a rate never matched at any time. The
launch of America's first satellite, Explorer I, was not only one of
the peak accomplishments of the International Geophysical Year with its
detection of the powerfully Van Allen radiation belts but also launched
the space age, a social, political, scientific, and technological
trajectory which is only today beginning to coast on past achievements.
The stock of scientists, engineers, and even politicians that were
inspired by these early achievements is dwindling. Cubesats are an
attempt by this generation to inspire the next by providing a way for
students to build and fly their own experiments in space.
Cubesat's are satellites in the shape of cubes approximately 4
inches on a side. Students at SSEL have been developing cubesats
continuously for over 6 years. These students build cubesats to gain
experience in aerospace but end up making advances by simply trying
naive ideas that would never occur to seasoned industry veterans. NASA
and the space industry fund these projects because their workforce is
rapidly dwindling as the first generation of rocket scientists retires.
The second SSEL cubesat design, Electra, has been in development for
almost three years. Originally tasked with carrying a large spool of
space tether, the electronics and structure had to occupy less space
than any cubesat ever developed. SSEL students have pushed the limits
on current cubesat technology, incorporating high tech elements from
laptop computers, cell phones, and know-how gleaned from on site
experience at major satellite laboratories. Though initially tasked
with a space tether orbital dynamics experiment Electra's mission
changed forever on July 29, 2006.
Late that night a Russian converted ICBM carrying MEROPE,
Montana's and SSEL's first cubesat failed to achieve orbit, crashing
into the sage deserts of rural Kazahkstan. MEROPE carried a Geiger
counter experiment very similar to that flown on the Explorer I
mission. It was to demonstrate that with 21st century technology, a
small group of students with little experience and a handful of off the
shelf parts could repeat the mission of America's first satellite.
Though the satellite was destroyed, it still performed its
mission, because of MEROPE the ranks of scientists and engineers have
swelled with new blood. To carry on MEROPE's purpose and to honor
America's achievement in Explorer I 50 years ago Electra has been
retooled to be Explorer I (Prime); it will carry a Geiger counter
payload very similar to MEROPE's. In addition Explorer I (Prime) will
demonstrate a high data rate communications link as well as technology
developed for MEROPE such as deployable tape measure antennae. In the
intervening years since MEROPE was commissioned cubesats have become
more commonplace in industry making the prospect of finding an American
launch provider more rosy than in 2001. When Explorer I (Prime) goes to
space sometime in late 2008 it will ride an American from Kennedy Space
Center in Florida.
In 1958 a Russian launch spread shock waves around the world
and spurred Americans to answer in kind with an entry of their own. 50
years later young American scientists are again racing the clock and
pushing technology barriers to answer a different kind of shock wave
from another Russian launch.
