RIT “Project METEOR” Plans Test Launch
Engineering students and faculty at Rochester Institute of Technology are developing a project to launch and place small payloads into near-earth orbit for engineering and scientific experiments in outer space.
RIT’s Project METEOR—which stands for Microsystems Engineering and Technology for the Exploration of Outer Regions—conducts a first-phase test launch at 9 a.m. on Friday, May 7, at Geneseo Airport. A helium-filled, high-altitude balloon and a launch platform are expected to reach an altitude of at least 100,000 feet. A system of cameras will transmit live images of the upper atmosphere, Web streamed at http://www.ee.rit.edu.
The test launch of sensors, cameras and other electronic gear will demonstrate the project’s processes and technologies. The balloon, launch platform and payload will be tracked by a global-positioning system before parachuting back to Earth after about three hours.
Currently in the testing stage, the project will eventually include design of rockets, “pico-satellites” (one- to two-pound satellites) and a high-altitude platform capable of deploying and launching rockets to asteroids and lunar surfaces. An ultimate goal is to reduce the cost of placing payloads into outer space. Launching from a platform in the middle to high levels of the ionosphere achieves an aim of escaping the pull of gravity. Reduced air resistance and drag means less rocket fuel is required to propel a payload to near-earth orbit. Other benefits include the flexibility to change the latitude at which a launch occurs and elimination of the need for ground-based launch equipment.
The platform could also be used for upper-atmospheric experiments and to provide a controlled environment for testing of prototype components designed to operate in outer space.
“This is an opportunity to engage undergraduate students early-on in multidisciplinary research and design, and to stimulate new microsystems research pursued by graduate students enrolled in RIT’s microsystems engineering Ph.D. program,” says Dorin Patru, RIT assistant professor of electrical engineering and advisor to the project with Jeff Kozak, RIT assistant professor of mechanical engineering.
Project METEOR is a multi-phase project involving RIT electrical engineering and mechanical engineering students and faculty dedicated to the advancement of science through engineering. The project has been supported by RIT, PCB Piezotronics Inc., Toshiba Corp. and Ultralife Batteries Inc. Amateur radio communications are supported by RIT’s Amateur Radio Club and local ham radio operators, coordinated by Jim Stefano, system administrator in RIT’s electrical engineering department.
Note: For more information, visit http://www.rit.edu/~jas6585
RIT’s Kate Gleason College of Engineering is among the nation’s top-ranked engineering colleges. The college offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in applied statistics, engineering science, and computer, electrical, industrial and systems, mechanical, and microelectronic engineering and a doctoral degree in microsystems engineering. RIT was the first university to offer undergraduate degrees in microelectronic and software engineering.
Founded in 1829, RIT enrolls 15,500 students in more than 340 undergraduate and graduate programs. RIT has one of the nation’s oldest and largest cooperative education programs.