As an undergraduate at the University of Colorado, Joel Rademacher spent three years helping to build an experiment that flew aboard the space shuttle in April 1993. Rademacher headed the structures subsystem of a student group that developed a canister of instruments to measure the sun's ultraviolet radiation. He even got to personally help remove the canister from the shuttle bay at the Kennedy Space Center after the mission.

"I was on the project for so long I got to know the systems and their integration and how everything worked," says Rademacher, now an ASU graduate student in aerospace engineering. "I wanted to continue the same type of work because it's so valuable to students. I learned so much from the project, it was just amazing."

During the fall 1993 semester, Rademacher got his wish to continue the same type of work when he became program manager of the ASUSat 1 project. The project has involved as many as 75 students in one semester. They are distributed among the satellite's 11 subsystems working groups. These students are getting the same kind of experience that Rademacher enjoyed as an undergraduate in Colorado. Following is an overview of their work on the subsystems teams:

Science
Experiments are aimed at proving several innovative student-designed attitude detemination sensors and use a commercial Global Positioning System to determine the satellite's orbital lifetime.
Leader: Charles Hewett, sophomore in physics. Hewett won the 1994 top award in the student paper competition at the eighth annual American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics/Utah State University Small Satellite Conference in Logan.

Structures
Designing and building the satellite bus. Innovative carbon fiber and resin composite structure will provide high strength but weigh only 2 1/4 pounds.
Leader: Shea Ferring, junior in aerospace engineering.

Dynamics
Designing the satellite to spin but not tumble. Motion will be stabilized with an innovative, 2-meter aerodynamic boom.
Leader: Curtis Potterveld, graduate student in aerospace engineering.

Communications
Providing link between satellite and ground station in the Engineering Research Center. Satellite to operate on frequency assigned by the AMSAT Organization.
Leader: Richard Bertapelli, a May 1995 graduate in electrical engineering.

Power
Supplying 6 to 10 watts of power with six nickel-cadmium batteries and gallium-arsenide solar cells mounted on the satellite body.
Leader: Roberta Bowman, a May 1995 graduate in mechanical engineering.

Thermal
Keeping satellite's internal components within operating temperatures. Satellite will experience temperature extremes of minus 205 degrees Fahrenheit to 185 F.
Leader: Karen Linda, junior in aerospace engineering.

Commands
Building the satellite's computerized control center for data processing. Additional functions include measurement of power levels and temperature in key areas of the satellite.
Leader: Mark Wightman, senior in electrical engineering.

Ground Support
Providing transportation equipment for subsystems and satellite while protecting them from contamination, shock and vibration damage. Also arranging test facilities.
Leader: David Ethington, senior in mechanical and aerospace engineering.

Software
Responsible for software controlling spacecraft and ground station operations and data analysis. Global Positioning System software to determine satellite location within six-tenths of a mile.
Leader: William Benedict, senior in computer science.

Deployment and Mechanisms
Devising system that will extend satellite's aerodynamic boom. Explosive bolt cutters to release the satellite from the nose cone of the Pegasus rocket.
Leader: David Staggers, graduate student in mechanical engineering.

Systems
Supervising communication between the subsystems during design, integrating all components and solving systems-wide problems.
Leader: Joel Rademacher, graduate student in aerospace engineering. Rademacher was a finalist in the 1994 national student paper competition at the AIAA/USU Small Satellite Conference.

"Things are in high gear in the lab now, with building and testing. We have a terrific group of about 40 students working this past summer," says Helen Reed, director of the Aerospace Research Center and an ASUSat 1 faculty adviser.

"I can't tell you how excited I am to see young people dedicated to learning and making something happen. This really makes my job fun."—Steve Koppes

Go to: Engineering and Technology: Mechanical Engineering

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