Santa Clara University

SCU Robotics Students Launch Successful Mission

Capitalizing on a three-year partnership with neighboring NASA/Ames Research Center, a dozen graduate and undergraduate students from the Santa Clara Robotic Systems Laboratory learned first-hand the thrill of putting engineering theory into practice as they took control of all mission operations for the NASA GeneSat-1 satellite launched from Wallops Island Flight Facility on December 16, 2006.

Measuring about the size of a shoebox, the GeneSat-1 took the laboratory into space. Operating as a secondary payload, it is the most advanced autonomous biological device ever flown, and according to Robotics Lab Director Christopher Kitts, “it is a technology precursor for a series of more advanced biological satellite missions that will follow over the next several years.” The primary experiment, which involved growing several samples of e coli over a period of four days in order to assess the effects of microgravity on their metabolism, will help scientists understand the impact of the spaceflight environment on living systems and will aid in the development of techniques to counteract the harmful effects of radiation and reduced gravity on humans traveling on future space missions. The experiment was also used to validate the use of many advanced technologies for even more challenging missions in the future. These technologies include the use of micro-fluidics, automated execution, integrated biological sample management, miniaturized instrumentation, multi-parameter environmental control, and distributed Internet-based mission-level command and control. Results of the experiments were transmitted back to Earth, requiring no specimen return.

Santa Clara University students, faculty and staff developed the entire command and control system for GeneSat-1, and made significant contributions to the design and test of the satellite itself. Students wrote the programs to track the satellite and run the experiments in space. “All the information they receive is relayed from the satellite,” reported John Hines, NASA Project Manager, “so without the students, nothing would get back.”

In an unprecedented move, NASA approved the SCU student-based team to run all mission operations for their device—satellite commanding, telemetry analysis, tracking, etc.—and their belief in this team was well rewarded. The success of the mission exceeded all expectations with audible contact being made during the satellite’s first flyover of the local area approximately 90 minutes after its launch, verification of the satellite’s perfect state of health and two-way command capability established before the end of the first day, and download of all baseline biological data from the completed 96-hour experiment distributed to the mission team and to the general public before the end of the first week of flight—“an absolute first for NASA missions,” according to Kitts. 

GeneSat-1 will be operational for about a year. When all primary science and engineering mission requirements have been met, the satellite will be officially turned over to SCU for the Robotic Lab’s educational program.  SCU faculty and students look forward to continuing their involvement with the NASA team on the follow-on mission, PharmaSat. “This has been a wonderful experience for our students, the Robotics Lab and SCU,” said Kitts. “It has allowed us to blend solid engineering research with graduate/undergraduate design education through an incredibly exciting and real-world project in which we've been collaborating with leading NASA/industry/university scientists and engineers.”

For more information, visit the SCU “mission dashboard” and the project Web sites:
http://genesat1.engr.scu.edu/dashboard/
http://www.genesat1.org