Welcome

Dr. Glenn Lightsey's research group provides an algorithmic and hardware based education in Orbital Mechanics.   We design, improve, and use sensor avionics and emerging technologies such as the Global Positioning System for spacecraft navigation, guidance, attitude determination, and science.  We also build space flight hardware experiments such as nanosatellites, suborbital rockets, and balloon payloads.  

News

FASTRAC Satellites to Set Up and Ship Out!

March 2008

It is an exciting time for the FASTRAC satellite team and community.  The FASTRAC satellites have been officially manifested for launch and have returned to Austin for the first time since 2006! During the next few months the satellite team will be working on the satellites in the newly developed Flight Integration Lab at the Center for Space Research.  This new lab, set up in what was previously the CSR library, facilitates the FASTRAC flight build and will soon accomodate other student-built satellite projects from the University of Texas.  (The FASTRAC team would like to sincerely thank CSR for its gracious accommodations for our project.) 

During the next few months, FASTRAC will be undergoing maintenance before final delivery to the Air Force Research Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Before April 1^st, the FASTRAC team will have completely disassembled the satellite, fixed issues including replacing fuses and installing new memory cards, and completely reassembled the satellite. In addition to working on the satellite hardware, several members of the FASTRAC team are also working on satellite software. In order to ensure a completely reliable mission, the software is being fine-tuned to make sure that all known problems are removed from the flight code. While satellite flight hardware and software is being completed, the FASTRAC ground station at the University of Texas W.R. Woolrich Laboratories is also undergoing testing and advancement. The ground station has already performed excellently in simulated satellite passes and the new, student-developed ground station software is extremely exciting.

 

On April 1^st, the satellites will be packaged in their container and shipped off to New Mexico for environmental and pre-launch testing. During this test phase, the satellites will be subjected to conditions that approximate those found during launch and in a space environment. After completing this final phase of testing, the satellites will be launched from Kodiak Island, Alaska in the fall of 2009 on a Minotaur IV rocket. After launch, the FASTRAC crew will be manning the ground station waiting to make first contact with the satellites and begin the mission!

 

 

Once again, the FASTRAC team would like to thank the many people involved in helping in this final push. Without the hard work from the team and the community as a whole, the project would never be as close to success as it is today. With a few more months of hard work, the satellites will be ready for their launch into space on the University of Texas' inaugural student-satellite spaceflight.