A small
satellite built by U.S. Air Force Academy cadets may be broken, but it’s not
headed for the scrapheap.
The smashed
FalconSat-2
satellite seen here crashed back to Earth after its Falcon 1 rocket – the debut
booster for El Segundo, California-based Space Exploration Technologies
(SpaceX) – failed
just after liftoff.
“There are
plans to have the slightly-used FalconSat-2 flight model displayed – behind glass
– among our other satellites and sounding rockets,” USAF Academy spokesperson
John van Winkle told SPACE.com Monday, adding that the satellite arrived
at the academy that day.
While the
two-stage rocket was lost, FalconSat-2 landed right next to the shipping
container (in the background) used to deliver the satellite to its Pacific
Ocean launch site on Kwajalein Atoll’s Omelek Island.
“The
experiments, batteries and antennae are toast, but the structure survived the
rigors of the failed March 24 launch,” van Winkle said of FalconSat-2. “It also
validates our structural engineering and says a lot about our cadets’ design,
analysis and construction skills.”
USAF
Academy cadets are currently preparing to launch their FalconSat-3 spacecraft
later this year and will begin designing its FalconSat-4 follow-up as well, van
Winkle said.
-- Tariq Malik
Credit: USAF Academy.
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