WVU engineering students Nick Ohi and Sean Lannto work with NASA IV&V systems engineer Matt Grubb on the West Virginia CubeSat at The West Virginia High Technology Consortium in Fairmont on 1/31/2018. This satellite contains projects from these and other WVU students.
What’s the news?
West Virginia University, students and faculty from the Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources and the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences had the unique, hands-on experience of building and testing elements of Simulation-to-Flight 1 or STF-1, the state of West Virginia’s first satellite. The spacecraft’s payload includes three experiments from WVU.
WVU collaborated with the NASA West Virginia Space Grant Consortium, NASA’s Independent Verification and Validation Program, and TMC Technologies in Fairmont, West Virginia, on the project. The satellite will launch soon via the NASA CubeSat Launch Initiative Educational Launch of Nanosatellites program.
Quotes and Comments
“I want to work for NASA after I graduate, so working on STF-1 helped me learn how satellite missions are developed and what kinds of things need to be done in order for them to be successful. Plus, being able to say that I have experience working on a CubeSat mission is a big boost to my resume.” – Nick Ohi, current WVU Ph.D. student (BS ’16, mechanical and aerospace engineering)
“From my work on this project, I gained insight into what I wanted to focus my studies and future career in. I gained my first clean room experience from this project, which led to my last internship working in a Process Integration Team at the Northrop-Grumman Advanced Technologies Lab. Once I complete my education, I hope to work in device design and processing in the electronics sector; my work with STF-1 was the first step in this path. It's also very exciting to know something I worked on will be launched as part of a project with NASA.” – Catherine O’Hearn, WVU alum (BS ’17, electrical engineering)
Resources
Photos available for download
Video: https://youtu.be/g6Iq5wndi2w
Link to original stories:
WVU partners with NASA to launch state's first satellite into orbit
Meet STF-1 West Virginia’s First Satellite
Target audiences
Current and prospective undergraduate and graduate science and engineering students
People interested in NASA, space and space craft
People interested in STEM education
Policy makers
Community members
-WVU-
ms/06/28/18
CONTACT: Mary C. Dillon
Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources
304.293.4086; Mary.Dillon@mail.wvu.edu
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