AFRL Funds Academy Satellite Program

  • Published
  • By Air Force Office of Scientific Research
  • AFOSR
Arlington, Va. --  AFRL is funding a research program at the US Air Force Academy (AFA) that directly involves cadets in satellite design, construction, and launch. The most recent cadet-created satellite is FalconSat-3, which launched in the spring of 2007 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and is currently conducting weather and spacecraft experiments 562 km above the earth.

AFRL began funding the FalconSat program 6 years ago. USAFA's Space Systems Research Center provides program oversight, running the multidisciplinary, two semester astronautical engineering course that asks cadets to put  theory into practice. The purpose of the FalconSat program is to educate cadets in fields related to space and acquaint future Air Force leaders with the excitement and challenges related to satellites and space access. In addition to studying the requisite engineering and physics, cadets learn to deal with the real-life requirements and regulations that must be satisfied in order to build and launch a satellite. 

FalconSat-3 houses five scientific experiments expected to support a number of Department of Defense (DoD) research initiatives. These experiments characterize the plasma turbulence in the environment surrounding the satellite, suppress the vibration caused by the stresses of launch, and investigate the satellite's shape and structural stability throughout the rigors of launch and space. 

USAFA's first nanosatellite/microsat was FalconGold, a 15 kg satellite that incorporated a Global Positioning System (GPS) signal experiment and launched aboard an Atlas Centaur rocket in 1997. FalconGold relayed GPS data for 15 days, demonstrating the viable use of GPS signals for orbital determination above the constellation. USAFA next launched FalconSat-1 (2000) and FalconSat-2 (2005), another satellite that successfully relayed GPS data. 

Since FalconSat-3's launch, cadets have operated the satellite from USAFA's ground station. Expected to remain in orbit for at least a year, FalconSat-3 will provide valuable data to the USAFA Physics Department, AFRL, and other DoD agencies.