ST. GEORGE — Utah Tech University has been awarded a NASA mini-grant to develop a CubeSat aiming to aid water resource management in Utah. The project was initiated on May 18 and will run until May 17, 2025.
A CubeSat is a small satellite developed by Cal Poly and Stanford in the early 2000s aimed at giving university students the opportunity to gain experience in space engineering.
This year’s CubeSat is a water desalination project in coordination with the Utah Water Resource Division and Water Conservancy District.
If successful, phase two would involve finding a launch vehicle and possibly launching the device into space the following year. Dr. Monte Kennedy, a retired aerospace engineer and adjunct professor at Utah Tech with 45 years of experience in the field, told St. George News he spearheaded the proposal to NASA.
Kennedy and Dr. Dave Christensen, the department chair for engineering at Utah Tech, will be instructing six to nine senior engineering capstone students, as well as local high school students serving as interns, to design, build and test the CubeSat Subsystem.
“As part of our proposal to NASA, we said we would reach out to high schools and bring some in,” Kennedy said, adding that NASA hopes to open science pathways to students early in the process.
The construction of this CubeSat, called UTU Harbinger CubeSat for Utah Water Management Mission, was made possible after they received an $11,000 grant from NASA, supplemented by $5,500 in matching funds.
“We weren’t sure if we were going to receive the funding,” Kennedy said. “Our chances of winning a proposal were pretty small because nobody has really built a CubeSat for $11,000 before.”
Kennedy said each CubSat is 10 centimeters cubed and can be stacked into three units measuring 10-by-30 centimeters. These CubeSats are equipped with a sensor payload, such as a thermal infrared camera or an optical camera, Kennedy said.
Data collected from orbit on water distribution and usage can potentially detect issues like leaks or inefficiencies in the water management system. The CubeSats’ ability to provide continuous monitoring and data collection over time allows them to track changes in water resources and identify patterns that may not be visible from the ground.
“Institutions like Utah State, BYU and the University of Utah have all launched CubeSats into space,” Kennedy said. “We thought it would be a great idea to get our students involved in CubeSats as well.”
By developing most CubeSat subsystems in-house, Utah Tech aims to significantly reduce the development time to one year and lower costs compared to typical CubeSat projects, which can take two to four years and cost over $100,000.
Kennedy said that the team hopes to build and launch a CubeSat with a different group of students every year.
“The first time takes longer, but once we’ve gone through the process, we believe we can do it annually,” he said, adding that he feels optimistic about the project’s progress and its future.
The $11,000 will be allocated toward materials and tooling costs for CubeSat subsystems. Key components include the structure, power systems, communication systems, command and data handling, attitude determination and control, thermal control, onboard data storage, and the scientific payload.
The budget breakdown is as follows:
- Structure: $500
- Power: $1,000
- Communication: $500
- Command and Data Handling: $2,500
- Attitude Determination and Control System: $2,500
- Thermal Control: $500
- Onboard Data Storage: $500
- Payload: $3,000
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