New Website!

A new website is under construction for the RAX spacecraft! Blogs will no longer be posted here, but will continue at http://rax.engin.umich.edu

Stay tuned for launch information!

Alaska! We made it.

Alaska or Bust has been our motto for the last two years. And, we finally made it. RAX has been integrated into a P-Pod by Cal Poly and Michigan students. Ben, Matt, and I are in Kodiak, Alaska to help bolt the Pod onto the rocket.

Launch is scheduled for 19 November 2010.

--Jamie

CubeSat Developers Workshop

From April 20th through 24th, RAX team members Matt Bennett, Sara Spangelo, John Springmann, Kiko Dontchev, and Allison Craddock; M-Cubed member Michael Heywood, and Professor James Cutler journeyed to the central coast of California for the seventh annual CubeSat Developers Workshop at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Matt Bennett and Sara Spangelo both delivered highly praised presentations. Matt got the workshop rolling as the first speaker to present, and his discussion on the design, development, and delivery of the RAX 3U CubeSat had the whole conference buzzing about its upcoming launch.

Sara presenting her research to the conference

Sara presented her research on optimizing ground station networking and downlinking. She discussed some trailblazing concepts in supporting multiple satellites performing science missions in concert as they collect data, communicate, and downlink to Earth.

After the conference was over, the team piled in the car to see some of the famous central California scenery, experiencing it firsthand with a group hike up Bishop’s Peak outside of San Luis Obispo.

RAX teammates Matt and Kiko, conquering Bishop's Peak


RAX teammates Matt, John, Kiko, Sara, and Allison, at the top

Ansari Visit!

We were visited today Anousheh Ansari, the first female private astronaut! She gave an inspiring talk on her space visit and entrepreneurial work. Her family found the first X-Prize, the Ansari X-Prize.

Matt Bennett describes the RAX mission to our guests.

A team picture with RAX and Ms. Ansari!

Concentration!

Just try and break the concentration of RAX connection building by Alex and Brad. Nic failed. But, wow, what a try.

Flight Fabrication and Testing

It's an intense week for the RAX Team. Flight unit is due 27 January 2010. Andy and Eric are in DC for GPS testing. Thanks Orbital! The EPS team is over in S3FL thermal vac testing the EPS and the rest of RAX. Alex, Ben, and I are waiting for our flight boards from Matt and Advanced Circuits. Time to solder!

2nd Graders at it again with Project AGORA!

These second grade students at Academia Cotopaxi are now tracking a NOAA satellite, downloading live data and interpreting the weather images in their classroom... how's THAT for a weather forecast!

The internet-to-orbit connection was provided by the Ecuadorian Space Agency and instructions for connecting to and using this service in your own classroom can be found on the Project AGORA website.