AFRL Selects University of Minnesota for Prestigious Satellite Program
Professor Gebre-Egziabher (AEM) and Professor Lindsay Glesener (SPA) in collaboration with Professor Mats Heimdahl (CS) are supervising a large group of students from various disciplines in CSE to build a CubeSat (10 x 10 x 30 cm satellite) known as EXACT. EXACT, sponsored by the Air Force Research Labs (AFRL), will fly a novel X-Ray spectrometer designed and built by a collaboration between the University of Minnesota, Montana State University, University of California, Santa Cruz, and the SouthWest Research Institute. The spectrometer will be used to explore novel positioning, navigation and timing techniques that rely on X-ray signals emitted by astrophysical objects. EXACT is being built in the University of Minnesota's Small Satellite Research Lab (SSRL) and is slated for delivery to the Air Force for launch in 2023.
The Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) University Nanosatellite Program (UNP) selected 10 universities to participate in the upcoming 2-year partnership to design, fabricate and test small satellites.
At the recent Flight Selection Review for the program’s tenth cycle, 3 of 10 universities were chosen to remain in the program and continue development of their CubeSats. These universities will be provided flights to space upon completion of their satellites. The universities selected were:
- The University of Minnesota
- Texas A&M University
- Michigan Technological University
Learn more about the project on AFRL's website.