Ground Control to Utah State
This image, taken from the International Space Station March 4, shows the MicroMAS satellite being deployed. Built by MIT, it includes radio technology developed in part by a team of electrical engineering experts at USU. (NASA/NanoRacks)
One of the newest small satellites orbiting Earth is sending back more data than ever before thanks to new technology developed by students and researchers at Utah State University.
On March 4, astronauts aboard the International Space Station deployed a CubeSat built by a team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and MIT’s Lincoln Lab. The satellite, known as MicroMAS, will collect high resolution imagery to help weather researchers better understand hurricanes and large storms.
In addition to its powerful imaging capabilities, MicroMAS is equipped with the latest radio transmitter technology that enables it to send more data more quickly — three megabits per second, versus the 10 kb/s rate typical of most small satellites. This next-generation transceiver was built by L-3 Communications in Salt Lake City and tested by engineering researchers and students in the College of Engineering at USU.
The high-tech radio first flew in space during the USU-Space Dynamics Lab 2011 DICE satellite mission and has since undergone further testing and improvements to increase its capacity.
Experts say the new radio system for small satellites opens new doors for scientific discovery.
“We have increased down-link data rates by several orders of magnitude,” said Jacob Gunther, Ph.D., professor of electrical and computer engineering at USU. “This is significant because it enables scientists to transfer a lot more data from space back to Earth. More data translates to more measurements and better science.”
The powerful communication system is made of two parts — the small radio onboard the satellite and a large ground-based antenna. The antenna — a Cold War-era parabolic dish located at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia — went unused for many years, but is now equipped with new hardware and software tools that give the big dish a new purpose.
“We’ve taken this antenna that went unused for 10 years and we turned it into an asset for the small satellite community,” said Erik Stromberg, a USU student and a full-time employee at SDL. “Three small satellite missions have used it so far, and there’s close to a dozen that will use it in the next five years.”
Stromberg is part of a team of students and technicians who help monitor and control the signals collected at the ground site in Virginia. Each day he works inside a control center at SDL in North Logan, Utah, where, based on instructions from MIT and Lincoln Labs, he controls what information is sent to MicroMAS.
Stromberg and others also updated many of the hardware systems that aide the dish’s ability to track satellites.
By developing these new tools and software packages that complement the L-3 radio, Gunther and his team are leading the global research community in establishing a low-cost, reliable communication system for small satellites and other space missions.
“We’re trying to blaze a new trail here,” said Stromberg. “Because we want to help other people get into space without tens of millions of dollars, we’re making these tools available to anyone who can use them. We’re making it easier for others to focus on their research and what’s important for their mission.”
Related links:
USU Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Contact: Jake Gunther, 435-797-7229, jake.gunther@usu.edu
Writer: Matt Jensen, 435-797-8170, matthew.jensen@usu.edu
A parabolic dish at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia is equipped with a software and hardware package developed and installed by electrical engineering researchers and technicians from USU and SDL. (photo: Jacob Gunther)
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