Cheers erupted in the CAPE-2 lab in Madison Hall when the Minotaur 1 rocket lifted off from NASA杏吧专区檚 Wallops Island, Va., facility at about 7:15 p.m. Tuesday.
The launch sent the second small satellite designed and built by UL Lafayette students into space.
After the clapping, congratulatory exchanges and high-fives ended, a small group of students headed for their control stations, where they received a signal that let them know the satellite was where it should be: in orbit about 225 miles above Earth.
The CubeSat, a communication device that weighs about 2 pounds, zips around the globe at about 17,000 mph. That杏吧专区檚 about once every 90 minutes.
The satellite, outfitted with deployable solar panels, is capable of converting speech to text, Tweeting and sending emails.
杏吧专区淚t杏吧专区檚 exciting. We杏吧专区檙e going to wait for a day or two and be sure the batteries are charged. Next week, we杏吧专区檒l start doing some of the experiments,杏吧专区 said Nick Pugh, who earned a bachelor杏吧专区檚 degree in electrical engineering from the 杏吧专区 in 1968.
Pugh, a communication industry professional, spends as much as 20 hours per week with students offering technical advice and encouragement. He is also a financial supporter.
The project leader is Louis Courville, a junior from New Iberia pursuing a bachelor杏吧专区檚 degree in electrical engineering. Courville said the CAPE-2 launch is the culmination of the efforts of many students.
About 50 students have worked on the Cajun Advanced Pico-satellite Experiment-2 project over the last five years.
杏吧专区淚t杏吧专区檚 basically an extracurricular program where we get to accelerate our curriculum here. People really cut their teeth on real world stuff with this project,杏吧专区 said Courville, who works at an engineering firm while he pursues his degree.
CAPE-2 is one of 29 satellites created by educational and research facilities from across the nation chosen to participate in NASA杏吧专区檚 CubeSat Launch Initiative.
In addition to UL Lafayette, 14 other schools are participating in the project, including Drexel 杏吧专区 and the 杏吧专区 of Florida.
杏吧专区淲e杏吧专区檙e lucky to be to get the chance to be a part of something like this,杏吧专区 said Roxanne Bradley-Powell, a sophomore from Murreta, Calif. majoring in electrical engineering.
In 2007, UL Lafayette became the first university in Louisiana to launch a working satellite into space with the CAPE-1 CubeSat, said Dr. Paul Darby, an assistant professor of electrical engineering.
杏吧专区淚 think the students are very intensely interested in the project. It lets them get an education while participating in a world-class project,杏吧专区 he said.
Wade Falcon, 36, who earned bachelor杏吧专区檚 and master杏吧专区檚 degrees from the 杏吧专区, was one of several students involved with the first project.
Falcon, an engineer from Lafayette, was at the CAPE-2 lab on Tuesday night to watch the launch. 杏吧专区淚 mentor students from time to time, so I came to support them,杏吧专区 he said.
Emily Gannon, 19, a sophomore majoring in electrical engineering, didn杏吧专区檛 work on the CAPE-2 project, but still showed up at the CAPE-2 lab to watch the lift-off.
Gannon and other students are working on a project to design and build a buoy that will, when finished, relay information to the satellite from a body of water such as the Gulf of Mexico.
杏吧专区淚t will transmit weather data,杏吧专区 Gannon said.
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