Did you know that Morehead State University students are involved in a number of space exploration projects? They have been instrumental in engineering, building and launching satellites for purposes ranging from educational outreach to exploring the origins of the universe.
Scroll down to learn more about some of their work on satellites or download a printable version here.
To date, MSU has been involved in the launch of four NASA-funded satellites with a 5th scheduled to launch in 2019
Small satellites, miniaturized satellites, or smallsats, are satellites of low mass and size, usually under 500 kg (1100 lbs). While all such satellites can be referred to as "small", different classifications are used to categorize them based on mass.
EduSat
Launched: August 2011
Mass: 10 kg
Mission: student driven educational satellite
CXBN
Launched: 13 September 2012
Mass: 2.4 kg
Mission: increase the precision of measurements of the Cosmic X-Ray Background
UNISat-5
Launched: 21 November 2013
Mass: 12 kg
Mission: collaboration on a new class of satellites with the Sapienza group at the University of Rome, the Italian Space Agency and led by the European Space Agency
Eagle1
Launched: 21 November 2013
Mass: 0.5 kg
Mission: designed to provide a component testbed for various spacecraft technologies, primarily among them being a de-orbit system that also increases the spacecraft radar cross section
KySat-2
Launched: 19 November 2013
Mass: 1kg
Mission: 2nd satellite entirely designed (Ky-1 was lost in a launch failure), built and tested by university students in KY.
KySat-2 was relaunched as KySat-3 on 18 April 2017 aboard an Atlas V rocket
UNISat-6
Launched: 19 June 2014
Mass: 26 kg
Mission: data collected from UNISat-6 has provided researchers data useful to better understand satellite behavior when in orbit
DM-7
Launched: April 2017
Mass: > 6 kg
Mission: the Honeywell-Morehead-DM-7 investigation validates Dependable Multiprocessing (DM), a new type of computer software system that uses several commercially available processors working together to increase computing speed and reduce computing errors in a space environment
CXBN-2
Launched: 18 April 2017
Mass: 2.6 kg
Mission: refines critical measurements for explaining the origin of the Universe
The Lunar IceCube
With plans to launch in 2019, the Lunar IceCube mission, led by MSU, is one of several public-private partnerships chosen under NASA’s Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP). Lunar IceCube will be one of the first small satellites to explore deep space and could help lay the foundation for future small-scale planetary missions.
For more information on how the students of Morehead State University are aiming for the stars please visit
