Community Outreach
- Reaching Out to UT Students
- Reaching Out to the Public
- Ensuring Media Awareness
- Maintaining Web Presence
Reaching Out to UT Students
The education of new engineers is one of the most important goals of the University Nanosat program. Student participation provides the manpower that enables the FASTRAC mission to be completed under the proposed budget in two years. At UT-Austin, two senior project and hardware design courses were used in 2002 by the Satellite Design Lab to guide a team of 8 undergraduates to successfully design, build, and launch a sounding rocket payload.
Recruitment
A similar mechanism is employed for FASTRAC, with students being asked up front to commit to a two-year work plan. Design team members are solicited based on academic performance, expertise, and seniority diversity, ranging from sophomores to graduate students. A selection process is used where students may apply for FASTRAC by submitting applications with resumes and references. The students are not paid but undergraduate team members can receive design course credit for their time. This approach enables the majority of the budget to be used for satellite fabrication and testing costs.
EXPLORE UT Event
The Aerospace Engineering Department participates in many successful presentations to various audiences, including heavy participation in the annual EXPLORE UT event. EXPLORE UT consistently hosts thousands of visitors from several counties surrounding Austin.
Women in Engineering Program
The FASTRAC team also works with the UT Austin College of Engineering Women in Engineering Program (WEP) to further involve women in engineering. WEP organizes outreach programs meant to introduce engineering and the sciences to visiting students from all over Texas.
Reaching Out to the Public
FASTRAC provides opportunities to increase public awareness and participation in space flight research, and encourages individuals to pursue careers in science and engineering. The Texas Space Grant Consortium helps promote awareness of the FASTRAC program through their education and public outreach programs. The public can also access real satellite data and view the satellite's current position through this website, once the FASTRAC satellites are in orbit.
Assisting Amateur Radio Operators
The FASTRAC satellite signal is designed so that anyone with access to amateur radio equipment is able to receive the signal and relay the data they record to the project web site. Amateur Radio Operators can click For Radio Operators on the main menu for information on how to upload satellite data to this website.
Mentoring Students
In addition to the general promotion of the FASTRAC program through press releases and this project web site, at high schools are continually invited to participate in the program. These schools receive mentoring from university students to assist them in receiving signals from the satellites and encourage their participation in amateur radio.
Tours with Texas Space Grant Consortium
In addition to WEP, FASTRAC will also be organizing several tours and presentations with the Texas Space Grant Consortium that will be focused on middle and high school students.
Educating Kids
FASTRAC is also involved with the Student Engineers Educating Kids (SEEK) program at the UT College of Engineering. SEEK organizes tour groups and mentoring between engineering teams and students from local middle schools. This program is very comprehensive and is a wonderful way to educate children in the sciences.
Assisting Educators
Educators are invited to visit the For Educators section for lesson plans, class presentation opportunities, and FASTRAC Mission information.
Ensuring Media Awareness
Project Media Coverage
The FASTRAC team is featured in several publications around the University and Austin-area communities. The team has been featured in departmental and college-wide newsletters as well as the university newspaper , the Daily Texan, reaching over fifty thousand students, faculty, and staff. The FASTRAC Press Kit is available to journalists and the public, and is circulated throughout Austin media outlets. Link to press kit to be incorporated here.
Maintaining Web Presence
Project Website
The FASTRAC team maintains an interactive and detailed team website that tracks the team's progress, displays pictures and video files, and provides data from the spacecraft after launch. Contact us with feedback about our site.