KySat will launch a series of Kentucky-owned satellites over the next several years starting in late 2007, with launches anywhere from 12 to 18 months apart. Each project will increase in scope, complexity and student involvement. As many as seven students have worked on KySat1; 14 are set to work on KySat2.

"Kentucky is going to be the first state to have its own satellite," said Bill Hutchison III, a Speed School mechanical engineering major who is working on KySat1. "There have been other amateur satellites developed and launched by lots of different people including universities. But there's never been a consortium of state-sponsored entities to launch their own."

KySat's overall goal is to extend science and technology education, research and development, innovation and economic development in Kentucky.

"Our focus is really on education," Hutchison said. "Students from anywhere from kindergarten up through college age will be able to contact the satellite and command it to take pictures, relay messages, analyze the telemetry and much more."

The project fits in well with NASA's multi-generational vision for space exploration, according to Mike Griffin, NASA administrator. "The people who will be taking us to Mars and beyond are in elementary and middle school."

This IS rocket science

Hutchison and Alaa Aly, an electrical and computer engineering Ph.D. student at Speed, spent 10 weeks this past summer at NASA's Ames Research Center and the Stanford Space Systems Design Laboratory in Mountain View, Calif. They took classes and worked with Bob Twiggs, a Stanford University professor who invented standard satellite packages, including the bus that will be used for KySat1.

"Our heads were just spinning," Hutchison recalled.

"You know that saying, 'This isn't rocket science.' Well, this is rocket science, and it's very difficult," he said. "Every time you want to do something in the normal way most engineers would do it, you find road blocks like cosmic radiation, attack by atomic oxygen and countless other challenges the environment of outer space has to offer."

Hutchison's work has focused on designing and building the hardware and dealing with mechanical challenges like power generation. The satellite will be in a low orbit around the Earth so it will get only so much sunlight for solar power.

"When it's on the dark side of the planet, it can't get any power," he said. "You've got to run batteries for that period of time."

Aly, who left the project shortly after returning from California to focus on finishing his dissertation, made a key contribution to the software part of the satellite system, said Jim Graham, acting chair of the electrical and computer engineering department.

"Overall, the satellite program is an excellent opportunity for Speed School students to become involved in NASA activities," Graham said. "I think that our students did a good job and made good progress with the projects they were assigned to."

"I can't imagine why anybody wouldn't want to be a part of this," said Hutchison, who figures to have some hand in educating the new students designing KySat2. "I grew up watching the first people land on the moon. I asked my mom to buy me Tang. I was in love with the whole thought of it."

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Kentucky Satellite project
Microsat and Nanosats at SpaceMart.com
Microsat News and Nanosat News at SpaceMart.com

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