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Small RMS satellite to launch into space Oct. 2020

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Robertsville Middle School RamSat CubeSat
The small cube satellite built by Robertsville Middle School students with help from teachers, mentors, and NASA is scheduled to launch in October 2020, and it will be deployed from the International Space Station, Oak Ridge Schools announced Monday, Aug. 29, 2019. (Photo courtesy Todd Livesay)

Note: This story was last updated at 1 p.m. Aug. 20.

The small cube satellite built by Robertsville Middle School students with help from teachers, mentors, and NASA is scheduled to launch in October 2020, and it will be deployed from the International Space Station, Oak Ridge Schools announced Monday.

The school system said it has received notification of the launch date from NASA.

“We received the official word from Scott Higginbotham at Kennedy Space Center,” Oak Ridge Schools said in a press release. “His letter stated, ‘RamSat is currently manifested to fly on the ELaNa-31 mission aboard the NG-14 Commercial Resupply Services mission to the ISS. Launch is currently scheduled for October of 2020. NanoRacks will be facilitating the deployment of your spacecraft from the International Space Station.’”

Students have determined the mission of the cube satellite, or CubeSat, will be to circle the Earth and capture images to help them study the regrowth of vegetation in Gatlinburg, as the city recovers from the forest fires of November 2016, the press release said. The satellite has been named RamSat.

[Read more…]

Selected for space launch, Robertsville satellite gets boost from ORNL

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Robertsville Middle School in Oak Ridge is the first middle school to ever be selected for a NASA program that launches small cube-shaped satellites into space. On Friday, March 9, 2018, the $70,000 science project got a $15,000 boost from Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Celebrating above by saying "NASA, we are a go!" are RMS students, teacher Todd Livesay, ORNL Director Thomas Zacharia, Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bruce Borchers, and other Oak Ridge Schools staff and project volunteers. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Robertsville Middle School in Oak Ridge is the first middle school to ever be selected for a NASA program that launches small cube-shaped satellites into space. On Friday, March 9, 2018, the $70,000 science project got a $15,000 boost from Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Celebrating above by saying “NASA, we are a go!” are RMS students, teacher Todd Livesay, ORNL Director Thomas Zacharia, Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bruce Borchers, and other Oak Ridge Schools staff and project volunteers. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 2 p.m. March 11.

Robertsville Middle School in Oak Ridge is the first middle school to ever be selected for a NASA program that launches small cube-shaped satellites into space.

On Friday, the $70,000 science project, which started about three years ago, got a $15,000 boost from Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The Robertsville satellite, which will orbit a few hundred miles above Earth, will use a small camera to try to take pictures of forest regrowth in the Great Smoky Mountains near Gatlinburg. That area burned in forest fires fed by high winds after Thanksgiving 2016, killing 14 people and damaging or destroying more than 2,500 homes and businesses.

The RMS satellite, named RamSat, will use a radio to relay its images and other data back to Earth.

A project proposal was submitted to NASA in November, and Oak Ridge Schools learned this month that the RMS proposal had been accepted.

“This is such an exciting opportunity for the students!” said Peter Thornton, one of the RamSat team leaders from ORNL. “They will now have the chance to design, build, carry out, and own a satellite mission.” [Read more…]

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