KySat One Mission Overview

Daniel Erb, who who started at Murray State University as an undergraduate on the project, has continued working on the project to this day. He's up now.

He displays a picture of the guts of the cube, showing the assembled engineering model. The technology developed for the bus of KySat-1 will be leveraged for other applications. Among the other pieces, the bus includes solar arrays, antennas, and payload. Daniel says that there has been an emphasis on COTS, or off-the-shelf components.

So what is the mission?

Education and workforce development are two primary goals of Kentucky Space. It should be accessible to all grade levels. The technology should be reusable and extensible.

There has been a real emphasis on ensuring that students want to use the satellite, and to make sure that it can be managed well.

The concept of operations emphasize simplicity. Kids need to be able to go onto the playground and listen to the satellite - with simple methods such as Morse code telemetry, students can get useful information. In addition, audio playback and photo capture will be possible.

In advanced mode, the cube will be able to upload and download data. Digipeating can be done. Amateur radio enthusiasts will be happy.

As of now, the engineering model is complete and testing will begin very soon. This is to make sure that the delivered satellite does not harm other payloads on whatever provider launches the cube.

In about a month, NASA will be coming to UK to look over the project. The team is hoping for a fourth quarter launch. Launch plus two weeks will see the beginning of public outreach.

Wayne