{"id":90329,"date":"2018-09-07T10:37:47","date_gmt":"2018-09-07T14:37:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=90329"},"modified":"2020-08-21T12:05:59","modified_gmt":"2020-08-21T16:05:59","slug":"ucf-puerto-rican-made-cubesat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-puerto-rican-made-cubesat\/","title":{"rendered":"UCF Collaboration on Track to Launch First Puerto Rican-Made CubeSat into Space"},"content":{"rendered":"
Puerto Rico may finally see its first CubeSat launched into space<\/a>, thanks to a collaboration between the Interamerican 海角直播 on the island and the Florida Space Institute<\/a> at the 海角直播.<\/p>\n Interamerican aerospace engineering Professor Amilcar Rincon Charris and two of his students visited UCF this week to consult with UCF faculty and students about the construction of the miniature satellite called Puerto Rico CubeSat NanoRocks-2.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been wanting to put a CubeSat into space since 2013,\u201d Rincon said. \u201cNow with our partnership with UCF, we are really close.\u201d<\/p>\n Rincon met FSI associate researcher Julie Brisset last year after UCF became the lead organization managing the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.<\/a> Brisset has worked on several NASA CubeSats by preparing payloads, such as the NanoRocks project, which flew on the International Space Station for more than a year.<\/p>\n These satellites are compact, no bigger than a bread box. CubeSats, named for their cube shape, house experiments that look at everything from the role of dust in planet formation to determining the best kind of adhesive to use in space. These satellites now launched by private and public companies as well as NASA provide scientists an inexpensive opportunity to conduct experiments in space.<\/p>\n \u201cOur students are building the CubeSat itself, and Julie and her team are building the scientific payload,\u201d Rincon said. \u201cOnce we teamed up this way, NASA approved funding as part of the Launch Opportunities program. Now we can really see this happening.\u201d<\/p>\n For the Puerto Rican team, this partnership could mean the island\u2019s first satellite in space, with a target launch date of 2020.<\/p>\n “We\u2019re very excited to see this project succeed and have Puerto Rico\u2019s first satellite in space.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cIt would be historic,\u201d Rincon said. \u201cWe are very proud, very excited about that.\u201d<\/p>\n This CubeSat, which will study the role of dust in planet formation, is another example of the kind of growing impact UCF is having in space research, especially when it partners with other groups across the globe. Brisset this week was awarded a NASA grant<\/a> to fly an experiment aboard a flight from commercial provider Blue Origin. Assistant Professor of physics Adrienne Dove is waiting to see her CubeSat launch from California next week and physics Professor Josh Colwell has another in the final stages of completion.<\/p>\n For Rincon, the project been a long road paved with challenges and opportunities for his students. About 40 students from Interamerican have worked on the project through the years. They include students majoring in mechanical, electrical and computer engineering as well as communications. Many of Rincon\u2019s students have graduated and gone on to work for companies such as Honeywell and Florida Turbine Technologies, which have operations in Puerto Rico. One recent graduate is working at the Kennedy Space Center.<\/p>\n Currently, 15 students are working on the project.<\/p>\n