Student Satellites Successfully Separate Published Jan. 9, 2012 By Eva Blaylock, AFRL/RVOT Space Vehicles KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, New Mexico -- Two satellites designed and constructed by students at the University of Texas' Cockrell School of Engineering successfully separated in space March 22, completing the most crucial goal of the mission since its Nov. 19, launch and making them the first student-developed mission in the world in which satellites orbit and communicate with each other in real-time. The Air Force Research Laboratory's University Nanosat Program/FASTRAC (Formation Autonomous Spacecraft with Thruster, Rel-nav, Attitude, and Crosslink), built by University of Texas (Austin), launched in November. Now that the 60-plus pound, tire-sized satellites are apart, they will be able to perform the main goals of the project and could pave the way for more complex satellite missions that require real-time coordination between small satellites. Traditionally, larger and expensive satellites have been commonplace in space missions but the satellites developed by more than 150 aerospace engineering graduate and undergraduate students could demonstrate the potential for space technology that's more affordable and accessible -- a forward-looking approach that's attracted the interest of the Air Force and NASA. The satellites will collect scientific data and be able to report their location and proximity to each other to students and amateur radio operators tracking their orbit some 400 miles above.