AFRL University Nanosatellite Program celebrates satellite launches Published Oct. 17, 2013 By Jeanne Dailey Air Force Research Laboratory KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- Excitement was in the air recently when two of the Air Force Research Laboratory's University Nanosatellite Program satellites were successfully launched at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. on a SpaceX Falcon 9 1.1 rocket. Cornell University's CUSat and the University of Colorado Boulder's Drag and Neutral Density Explorer satellites were among the rocket's payload. Both satellites were developed through the University Nanosat Program, which is a partnership between AFRL and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. UNP is a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, or STEM, program that encourages university students to competitively design, build, launch and track a small satellite or nanosat. Every other year, about 10 universities compete in the University Nanosatellite Flight Competition Review held at Kirtland for a coveted satellite launch opportunity. Dr. David Voss, who leads the AFRL program, was thrilled with the launch. "It is exciting to see the results of several years of hard work come to fruition. More than 350 engineering students at Cornell and the University of Colorado Boulder participated in designing and building their satellites," he said. "This successful launch shows we are meeting our goal of educating the next generation of the aerospace workforce." Tricia Hevers, a Cornell graduate who worked on the CUSat, gave a strong endorsement of the UNP. "I strongly believe that I would not have gotten my current job without my UNP experience. It helped bridge the gap between understanding the theory and principles of engineering and applying those to create a realizable system," said Hevers, who is now an engineer at Boeing's Satellite Development Center in El Segundo, Calif. "The knowledge that I gained by working on the CUSat has allowed me to become involved in several of Boeing's cutting-edge projects because my managers value my UNP experience so highly." DANDE will be collecting data to help scientists better understand atmospheric drag forces on satellites. CUSat will be using a novel algorithm for Global Positioning System signal processing to provide precise measurements of the distance between two GPS receivers used for future rendezvous and docking missions. AFRL systems engineer 1st Lt. Jacob Bills is the on-orbit operations phase lead for UNP and will now be assisting both satellite teams in accomplishing their science missions. "I am extremely happy to help both of these outstanding teams achieve mission success and get their data out to scientists who are eagerly awaiting the results," Bills said. Voss said the program has been a huge success. "Within the last year, about 500 undergraduate and graduate students from 10 universities have participated in the program. Since the UNP's inception in 2000, approximately 4,500 undergraduate and graduate students from 27 universities have taken part," Voss said. "Our hope is that the University Nanosatellite Program will help attract top STEM students to the federal government. It is clearly a winning program for students, academia, government, and industry."