KXLH

Posted: Feb 8, 2010 6:44 PM
Updated: Feb 9, 2010 8:03 AM

For more than three years more than 100 students have worked together on Montana State University's Explorer-1 (Prime) satellite that will finally have chance to hit orbit.

"The satellite is a very small package. It's about four inches on a side, has all the functionality of a major large satellite, and so the real challenge for our students is to give all that functionality in the satellite package that weighs 2.2 pounds in this four inch cube," said Dr. David Klumpar from  Montana State University's Space Science and Engineering Laboratory.

The goal of the satellite is to gather pertinent upper atmospheric readings from a relatively low earth orbit about the incoming radiation entering the earth's atmosphere, particularly in the polar regions. Support for this project, including funding, has been given by the Montana Space Grant Consortium.

"It takes a lot of work to pull something like this off, and so Explorer-1 (Prime) is something completely supported by Montana space grant, that we kind of help pay the students a little bit and that kind of thing, that's the homegrown MSU kind of aspect of things," Angela Des Jardins, Director for the Montana Space Consortium said.

Though the students have spent countless hours on the university campus working to get this satellite up and running, it's still amazing for them to think that something they built here is going to end up in space.

"It's exciting, it's very exciting. It's something I've always sort of dreamed of ever since I was little, I watched a lot of Star Trek and stuff like that, so I'm definitely looking forward to being able to tell someone, you know, I've worked on this project and it's in orbit," 2009 graduate Scotty Kratochvil said.

"It's awesome knowing that what we've been working on for nearly five years is going up in space, it's really cool," MSU industrial engineering senior Celena Byers added.

Though the project is nearing its end, there are still several tasks to complete, including a test in Utah to ensure the satellite can withstand the harsh environment of space, where temperatures can range from minus 40 to 110 degrees Fahrenheit during the satellites 14 trips around the earth each day.

If all goes well, Explorer-1 (Prime) will accompany satellites from two other universities on an unmanned mission scheduled to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Santa Maria, California in late November.