Satellite launch takes project to new heights

By Marcial Portilla

As the only university in the country where students have primary control over satellites, Santa Clara faculty and students at the Robotics Systems Laboratory prepare for the launch of PharmaSat.

Students at the RSL will be working with NASA on the PharmaSat satellite, which has been scheduled to launch sometime next week.

According to a NASA press release, the PharmaSat is a satellite weighing approximately 10 pounds, and is a secondary payload aboard a U.S. Air Force four-stage Minotaur 1 rocket.

After PharmaSat separates from the rocket and enters orbit, it will begin transmitting radio signals to its ground control stations. The satellite contains a micro-laboratory with sensors and optical systems that will detect the density, growth and health of yeast cells, and will transmit the data back to Earth for analysis.

An antifungal treatment will be administer to the yeast cells, which will initiate the 96-hour experiment. PharmaSat will also monitor the levels of temperature, pressure and acceleration the yeast and satellite will receive while circling the Earth at 17,000 miles per hour.

Using the data from PharmaSat, scientists will be able to learn more about how effectively drugs work in space. These drugs will provide new information about the susceptibility of microbes to antibiotics in the space environment.

The satellite's primary control center is located at Ames Research Center at Moffett Federal Airfield, and the secondary control is located on campus at the RSL.

Santa Clara became involved with satellites when Ames decided to start building small satellites for low cost experiments and partnered with Santa Clara.

The first satellite project undertaken by students was the GeneSat-1 mission, which successfully launched in December 2006. The satellite continues to transmit a beacon to Earth and is used by professor Christopher Kitts in class. Kitts helped start the satellite program at Santa Clara using his experience from Ames in satellite mission operations.

"It is a real-world engineering operation, and being a part of something like this is the best way to learn what real engineering is all about," said Kitts.

There are about 20 students currently engaged with PharmaSat, whose involvement ranges from satellite operations to the development of the communication station hardware and software.

The students at the RSL will be using antennae on top of the engineering building to communicate with the PharmaSat.

"The constraints on the communication link require that we be able to accurately point a large satellite dish in order to operate the spacecraft," said Mike Rasay, who has been working on staff and handling operations responsibilities for the mission after finishing his master's degree at Santa Clara.

"The satellite orbit allows the operations team 2-4 opportunities to communicate with the spacecraft on a daily basis. In order to be successful, the operations team does extensive planning in order to ensure that the expectations of NASA engineers and scientists are met," he said.

Students working on the project range from seasoned veterans to students such as Laura Bica, who will be experiencing her first mission with PharmaSat. All of the students perform important roles for the success of the mission.

"The satellite operation is certainly a challenge, but the students at the RSL are more than ready for it," said Rasay.

There is little room for error, Kitt said.

"Imagine trying to point an antenna to within a fraction of a degree at an object that flies past you at 17,000 mph," Kitt said. "As you do it, talk to it through a radio link to find out if it is healthy or not. If not, diagnose and fix it. If it is healthy, then run an advanced biological test for NASA that requires precise temperature control and which uses nearly all the power produced by the satellite's solar cells."

Students are also preparing for another NASA project, O/OREOS, which is currently scheduled for launch in February 2010. The RSL is currently working on the development of operations software to support the future mission as operating organization.

Contact Marcial Portilla at jmportilla@scu.edu.