FASTRAC Victorious, Headed to Space!
January 11, 2005
Glenn Lightsey
FASTRAC has won the University Nanosatellite-3 Competition and the University of Texas at Austin's student built satellite is going to be launched into space!
On Sunday January 9, 2005, in Reno, Nevada, engineering students from UT-Austin presented their mission design and hand-built satellites to a panel of judges in a nationwide competition. The contest was sponsored by the US Air Force and NASA to pick a student built satellite to be launched into space. A field of 13 Universities had previously been selected as finalists in 2003 and had worked on their satellites for the past two years. The Universities were free to propose any mission, but the competition rules stipulated that the satellites must weigh less than 30 kilograms (about 70 pounds) and cost less than $100,000.
UT-Austin's entry, the Formation Autonomy Spacecraft with Thrust, Relnav, Attitude, and Crosslink (FASTRAC) is actually a pair of satellites designed to demonstrate new technologies that enable spacecraft to work together in groups. It is believed that once these new technologies are mature, clusters of smaller satellites will outperform the larger and more expensive individual satellites that are used for many tasks today.
With the entire team working over the holidays, the UT-Austin team was able to deliver all of the hardware in working order at the Flight Competition Review held in Reno, Nevada. This remarkable accomplishment, along with the results from an extensive series of environmental tests, enabled FASTRAC to win against a strong field of worthy designs from other Universities. All of the judges remarked that they were highly impressed with the overall quality of the field.
As the UN-3 winner, the FASTRAC program enters a new phase as it prepares for flight. The existing hardware will be refurbished and selected components will be replaced with better flight quality parts. The next major milestone is delivery of a complete set of hardware to the Air Force on May 15 for a battery of flight qualification tests to be performed over the summer. FASTRAC will probably be launched into space in 2006, making it the first-ever UT-Austin built satellite to be launched into orbit.
Congratulations to the FASTRAC student team on their well-deserved victory!
News Archive
December 1, 2011 - FASTRAC Digipeating Announcement by Sebastián Muñoz
March 9, 2011 - FASTRAC is Separating!! by Sebastian Muñoz
November 20, 2010 - FASTRAC Is In Orbit! by
November 19, 2010 - FASTRAC is launching Tonight!!!! by
November 2, 2010 - FASTRAC is launching this Month!!! by S. Munoz and E. Ferguson
April 19, 2010 - FASTRAC Ready to go into Space!! by Sebastian Munoz
June 26, 2008 - FASTRAC Satellites Get Updated Software, New Antennas by Stephen Clark
March 8, 2008 - FASTRAC Satellites to Set Up and Ship Out! by Eric Hagen
August 27, 2006 - Satellites Undergoing Testing at AFRL by Glenn Lightsey
June 25, 2006 - FASTRAC Satellites Leave Texas by Greg Holt
June 14, 2006 - FASTRAC Frequency Request Submitted by Glenn Lightsey
December 15, 2005 - FASTRAC Mission Receives Critical D.O.D. Ranking for Launch by Jamin Greenbaum
April 20, 2005 - FASTRAC Personnel Changes by Glenn Lightsey
January 11, 2005 - FASTRAC Victorious, Headed to Space! by Glenn Lightsey
January 7, 2005 - FASTRAC Headed to Nevada for Competition by Glenn Lightsey
January 3, 2005 - FASTRAC Satellite Completes Thermal/Vacuum Test by Glenn Lightsey
December 19, 2004 - Satellite Integration Nears Completion by Glenn Lightsey
December 7, 2004 - FASTRAC Thermal Vac Testing Progresses by Greg Holt
November 28, 2004 - Solar Cells See Sunlight by Greg Holt
July 27, 2004 - FASTRAC Separation Test aboard KC-135 a Success! by FASTRAC team
May 15, 2004 - Balloon Satellite by FASTRAC team
