Our Project: Overview
FASTRAC, the Formation Autonomy Spacecraft with Thrust, Relnav, Attitude and Crosslink, is a nanosatellite pair whose design and integration has been undertaken by students at The University of Texas at Austin. The project is part of a program sponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) whose goal is to lead the development of affordable space technology. The objective of the FASTRAC mission is to investigate technologies that enable space research using satellite formations. The utilization of satellite formations in space is a pivotal advancement for the future of space exploration and research.
The University of Texas is one of 12 universities in the nation selected to participate in this grant-based competition. In January 2005, UT and the other participating universities will compete for the opportunity to have their nanosatellites launched into space.The FASTRAC team will be competing against the following universities:
- The University of Colorado at Boulder
- New Mexico State University
- Arizona State University
- Pennsylvania State University
- The University of Michigan
- The University of Hawaii at Manoa
- Michigan Technological University
- Montana State University at Bozeman
- Washington University at St. Louis
- Worcester Polytechnic Institute
- Taylor University
The FASTRAC nanosatellite mission will demonstrate that reduced launch, hardware, and integration costs are a present day reality. In December 2004, FASTRAC will be ready for launch, and the design and integration will have been accomplished under a budget of $100,000 and in a time frame of two years from conception to flight.