May 2007 Archives

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.