AggieSat2, the 5-inch cube picosatellite built from scratch by the students of Texas A&M’s AggieSat Lab, is now in orbit.
The picostaellite was deployed from STS-127 Space Shuttle Endeavour’s payload bay on Thursday 30 July 2009 at 7:34:30 CDT. It communicated with the AggieSat team at the ground control station for the first time in the evening on the same day.
AggieSat2 was one of two satellites deployed from Endeavor. The other satellite, Bevo-1, has been built by students from the University of Texas.
AggieSat2 will beam information about its position (180 minutes of GPS data) by using the on-board GPS, called DRAGON, developed by Johnson Space Center. Information from the satellite will be transmitted to a ground control station set up on the Riverside campus and collected by students. The information will be sent to NASA, where it will be compared with NASA’s predictions to check the new GPS for accuracy. The mission will be considered a success after this information has been completely received by the ground control station and delivered to NASA.
AggieSat2 will pass over College Station at least once every day and remain in orbit for an estimated 4 months. On completing its mission, it will burn up harmlessly in the atmosphere.
To follow AggieSat2 on the Twitter network or Facebook, visit the AggieSat Lab website. The website is being continuously updated and has the flight teams listed on the Mission Control page along with, eventually, live health and communication window updates from AggieSat2.
The AggieSat Lab was set up in 2005 by Dr. Helen Reed, a professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering. The lab aims to provide students with hands-on engineering experiences.
Written by Marissa Doshi
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