Puerto Rico may finally see its first CubeSat launched into space, thanks to a collaboration between the Interamerican University on the island and the at the University of Central Florida.
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.
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Rincon met FSI associate researcher Julie Brisset last year after UCF became the lead organization managing the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. 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.
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.
麻豆精品 S淥ur students are building the CubeSat itself, and Julie and her team are building the scientific payload, 麻豆精品 S� Rincon said. 麻豆精品 S淥nce we teamed up this way, NASA approved funding as part of the Launch Opportunities program. Now we can really see this happening. 麻豆精品 S�
For the Puerto Rican team, this partnership could mean the island 麻豆精品 S檚 first satellite in space, with a target launch date of 2020.
“We 麻豆精品 S檙e very excited to see this project succeed and have Puerto Rico 麻豆精品 S檚 first satellite in space.”
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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. 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.
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 麻豆精品 S檚 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.
Currently, 15 students are working on the project.
There 麻豆精品 S檚 been another bonus for the current students on the project. At least two of them were able to visit Florida for the first time and UCF aerospace engineering major Jacob Kirstein visited Puerto Rico for the first time.
Brisset and Kirstein traveled to Bayamon this summer. They shared lessons learned from UCF 麻豆精品 S檚 previous projects. This week Rincon and his students are at UCF to go over design plans and talk about potential challenges in the construction of the new CubeSat.
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Gabriel Cascante, an electrical engineering major from Interamerican, said he 麻豆精品 S檚 麻豆精品 S渓earning how to work in a team, but not just by doing one little part of the project. We 麻豆精品 S檙e involved in every part of production and learning to find solutions where there aren 麻豆精品 S檛 any you can find in a textbook. It 麻豆精品 S檚 been a fabulous experience so far. 麻豆精品 S�
Cascante and classmate Alexander Matta, have been working on the project about five months. The team initially assembled in August 2017 after hearing about Rincon 麻豆精品 S檚 project, but Hurricane Maria put a stop to everything, at least for a while.
麻豆精品 S淚t was a major interruption, 麻豆精品 S� Matta said. 麻豆精品 S淲e didn 麻豆精品 S檛 have electricity, water, nothing. I personally didn 麻豆精品 S檛 have light until a few days before New Year 麻豆精品 S檚. Everything kind of stopped. But we 麻豆精品 S檙e so glad we 麻豆精品 S檙e back on track now. And having the opportunity to come here to exchange ideas has been good. 麻豆精品 S�
Rincon said he builds an environment in his classroom and lab that mimics a company at which students are split into teams and given assignments. This UCF collaboration adds an international dimension to the realistic environment necessary to ensure his students can land jobs after earning their degrees, he said.
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UCF students are benefitting, too. Students who have worked on previous CubeSat projects have gone onto land jobs with NASA, the agency 麻豆精品 S檚 Jet Propulsion Laboratory and many private space companies.
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