The AggieSat Lab is a Student Satellite Program under the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University that is currently involved in two satellite projects, AggieSat2 and AggieSat3. The principal investigator, Dr. Helen Reed, joined Texas A&M as Head of the Aerospace Department in December of 2004, bringing with her the lab and 11+ years of experience in space flight, satellite design, and student education from Arizona State University. Being a student organization at Texas A&M provides lab members with opportunities to work with students from other departments in coordinating both satellites through the design and fabrication process. With students from all majors working together, AggieSat Lab provides an exemplary learning environment for undergraduate students.
AggieSat Lab is open to all Texas A&M students. Undergraduates and graduates of all majors interested in participating in satellite design, fabrication and testing can call us at our primary number, (979) 845-2826, or use our Contact Us form listed above.
Recruiting Events
As recruiting events are planned and established by our Lab we'll post the event descriptions, times and locations here.
IMAX Movie and Orientation
September 4th @ Rudder Theater @ 6:30 PM
Open to all Engineering and Business majors at Texas A&M University. An orientation meeting will be held on September 4th at Rudder Theatre. We'll be featuring an IMAX movie, "The Dream is Alive". Doors open at 6:30 PM. The IMAX movie will last until 8 PM. Students attending will have an opportunity to learn about AggieSat Lab, ask questions of students who are already participating at AggieSat and watch an IMAX movie.
MSC Open House
August 31st @ Memorial Student Center @ 1 PM
AggieSat Lab will be present at this years MSC Open House event on August 31st starting at 1 PM. We'll remain there until closing time at 6 PM. You'll find us at table 2137 on the second floor of the MSC. There'll be several students available to answer questions regarding their involvement with AggieSat, what they've learned while here and how that knowledge plays into their majors. In addition we'll have posters, fliers, our prototype satellite and a sheet to sign up for e-mail reminders for our student orientations.
Student Orientations
September 8th @ Unknown @ Unknown
September 11th @ Unknown @ Unknown
For any student unable to make the IMAX Movie on September 4th, we'll be holding two additional student orientations. Each offers an opportunity to learn about AggieSat Lab's history, our current projects including our scheduled launch on the space shuttle and to ask questions of students who are already participating at AggieSat.
News Events
August 25, 2008
Our 24 hour test was unsuccessful and the expected reset did not occur. Another attempt will be made later this month once data returned from the satellite has been analyzed for possible software bugs.
Several tests from our health test procedure were conducted to confirm that downloading on-board health records is possible and that our on-board real-time clock is accurate. Our real-time clock allows a communication window to be set thereby causing the radios to be powered off until that time. It is therefore important that the satellite is able to maintain an accurate clock between communication windows. Our real-time clock was able to maintain an accuracy of 1 second over 6 hours which is well within acceptable limits.
August 21, 2008
Last week we were able to complete five of our six tests successfully with only minor adjustments to our test procedures. Those changes dealt with inconsistencies in test parameters that were discovered during testing. Our last test was canceled after issues developed in our code when attempting to run a shortened test to verify test procedures. Those issues were resolved earlier today and our 24 hour test is currently being conducted. Previously a 24 hour test was to be conducted to test our on-board real time clock. However that test procedure was modified so that the test would be shortened to 6 hours and a 24 hour test created to test a reset feature contained within our flight software. Once the 24 hour test is completed tomorrow afternoon we'll have only one last test to conduct. Our last test requires a functional test of our health manager prior to releasing our flight software for AggieSat2.