Friday March 2, 2012
CULTURE&MEDIA Review: “Put Your Back N 2 It” Page 8
Exploring the final frontier Story by Emily Aasand
The May deadline is quickly approaching for UND’s North Dakota Space Robotics Program. The students in the program are feeling the pressure to create a CubeSat satellite prototype and have it ready to be launched in three months. The NDSRP is an inter-campus program that is sponsored by the North Dakota NASA Space Grant. Eight computer science students, four electrical engineering students, and one mechanical engineering student are participating in the North Dakota Space Robotics Program, resulting in a statewide effort to develop a CubeSat satellite-engineering prototype. “Right now we’re working with Dickinson State to create this prototype, but in the future we’re hoping to get multiple campuses across the state involved,” said Jeremy Straub, the student program director at UND. “We are fortunate enough to have one space study member, two electrical engineering faculty members, and one mechanical engineering faculty member helping us out with this project. Their expertise will really come in handy.” A CubeSat satellite is a miniaturized satellite utilized for space research. The NDSRP satellite is about four inches in length, height and width. It weighs less than three pounds. “This satellite does basically everything a normal satellite does. It has visual sensors and is able to take pictures of the earth. They aren’t as high quality as the regular satellite’s but the cost dif-
[
CUBE page
PHOTO [Science and Facilities Technology Council - United Kingdom]
9]