ATHENS, Ga. — UPDATE: UGA Today posted that the launch was delayed a few minutes before takeoff. They plan to provide an update when a new date and time becomes available.
Original story:
A University of Georgia student-designed satellite will be launched into space tonight, marking the first time the school will have sent a research satellite into orbit.
According to UGA, the satellite is called Spectral Ocean Color, and referred to as SPOC for short. The size of a loaf of bread, it will "monitor the health of coastal ecosystems from space" the school said.
"SPOC is poised to provide valuable data to researchers at UGA and beyond," an article on the school's website noted. "It features an advanced optic system that can zoom in on coastal areas to detect chemical composition and physical characteristics on ocean and wetland surfaces."
The launch is scheduled for 9:38 p.m. tonight and will be live-streamed. The satellite will be aboard an Antares rocket launching from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
The cargo aboard the rocket will travel to the International Space Station, from which the satellite will be deployed into orbit after a few weeks, the school said.
It's a crowning achievement of sorts for UGA's Small Satellite Research Laboratory.
The effort dates back to 2016. A now-UGA graduate who helped found the lab, Hollis Neel, said, "this is the goal that a bunch of us had, which was to send something into space."
According to the school, the team won a research grant from NASA that helped put things into motion, and over the years hundreds of students have contributed at the lab. The lab's director, Deepak Mishra, said, "This project would be nowhere without students."
According to UGA, the satellite was originally set to launch back in March, before a malfunction set back its timetable and then the pandemic caused further delays.
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