A
microsatellite built largely from donated parts in university workshops across
Europe is just over one week from launch. It is the first in a trio of student-built spacecraft that will ultimately reach for the Moon.
It took
only 18 months for more than 400 students - spread across 23 universities and
12 countries - to design and build the SSETI Express spacecraft. Set to launch
from Russia's Plesetsk Cosmodrome on Sept. 30, the project is part an education
effort by the European Space Agency (ESA) to boost student interest in space
technology and offer some hands-on experience.
"The idea
is for the students to benefit from the real experience," Philippe Willekens,
education projects administrator for the ESA, told SPACE.com. "I can say
easily that this satellite was 99 percent made by them."
Student
teams built SSETI Express subsystem-by-subsystem and communicated primarily through
the Internet, though weekly chat sessions and twice-yearly workshops helped
keep everyone on the same page.
"It was a
great opportunity to learn a lot about high space technology," said Marcin Jagoda,
who graduated from Poland's Wroclaw University of Technology in July where his
team developed the satellite's communications system, in an e-mail interview. "I'm
really looking forward to launch."
Satellites
within satellites
SSETI
Express, short for Student Space Exploration Techology Initiative Express, is a
boxy satellite about the size of a small washing machine.
The 136-pound
(62-kilogram) spacecraft is expected to snap photographs of Earth, test a
cold-gas attitude control system and function as a radio transponder for amateur
radio operators.
The
spacecraft will also serve as a mothership for three picosatellites, tiny cubes
just under four inches (10 centimeters) wide, built by universities in Germany,
Japan and Norway. The picosatellites will be ejected into space on orbit.
"So that's
another challenge," Willekens said. "The three [picosatellites] were also built
by student teams."
Altogether,
the spacecraft cost the ESA Education Department less than $121,185 (100,000 euros)
to piece together, thanks to donated material, equipment and expertise from
participating universities and industry businesses, ESA officials said.
While there
was a small bit of "shadow engineering" during SSETI Express' development, it
was the students who handled the lion's share of the work, Willekens added.
"The
biggest challenge is, from my point of view, the collaboration with the other
teams," said Nils Harmsen, a fourth-year student at the University of Stuttgart
in Germany who worked on SSETI Express' propellant system, in an e-mail
interview. "You have to take care of all your team's interfaces with other
systems...if the interfaces aren't alright, it will cost the whole project a lot
of time and nerves."
Building
inspiration
ESA
officials plan SSETI Express to be the first of three microsatellites built by
student teams.
Also in the
planning stages are European Student Earth Orbiter (ESEO), an Earth-watching
spacecraft, and the European Student Moon Orbiter (ESMO), which are expected to
build on the performance of Express mission.
"We'll
learn from our lessons and we'll optimize," Willekens said. "I am convinced
this is one of the best ways to educate."
While SSETI
Express will launch atop a Russian Kosmos 3M rocket later this month, the 264-pound
(120-kilogram) ESEO spacecraft - nearly twice as heavy as its predecessor -
will fly aboard an Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket slated for a 2008 liftoff. The
lunar orbiter is scheduled to fly sometime between 2010 and 2012, and is
expected to conduct experiments during the flights to and from the Moon, ESA
officials said.
Students
can also get involved in much more than just building a spacecraft, since there
are legal and public affairs functions that also must be fulfilled, Willekens
said.
A little
competition
In addition
to boosting student interest, the ESA is also hoping to attract the amateur
radio community.
The space agency
is hosting a world-wide contest to radio amateurs, calling on them to tune into
SSETI Express' broadcast and retrieve any data they can gather. ESA officials
are offering free downloadable software and access to the satellite's UHF and
S-band communications systems for interested participants.
The first
person to retrieve, decode and submit a transmission from the SSETI Express
satellite will win a keen "I heard it first" t-shirt, ESA officials said.
The amateur
radio operator who submits the largest number of valid telemetry packets from
the spacecraft to SSETI Express mission control by 12:00 a.m. Jan. 1, 2006 will
snag an invite to the Student Technology Education Conference 2006 in Germany.
More
information on both contests is available at the Radio Amateur Connection
portion of the student-run SSETI Mission website here.
"I'm fully
satisfied with the work they've done," Willekens said of the SSETI Express
student team. "It was hard work, very hard work."
Meanwhile,
SSETI teams continue to work on their next project, the ESEO satellite now two
years from its planned spaceflight.
"SSETI
Express will be testing some of the hardware we will use in ESEO," explained aeronautical
engineering student Christina Trobajo, who is coordinating an ESEO team at
Imperial College, adding that the project pays off in spades. "We're all very excited
about it, as it's our desire to see our work in space."
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