ATLANTA — Three million miles away from Georgia Tech's Atlanta campus is a spacecraft operated by the college's engineering students, according to a university report.
Students monitor the spacecraft while it orbits the Earth and moon and even check its health every day. The device has a medium-sized briefcase shape with solar panels surrounding its body.
According to a Georgia Tech report, the college owns the "Lunar Flashlight" spacecraft. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory gifted the device to the students. The report also stated that the spacecraft was initially supposed to find frozen water on the moon, but failed after a couple of its thrusters weren't working.
The device is now used as a demonstration for students who aspire to be in the aerospace engineering and astronomy field, the report added.
"So here we do everything we can in order to operate the spacecraft every day by talking to the DSN. We also monitor telemetry and the spacecraft health along with we try do some fun stuff with it too," said Micah Pledger, an aerospace engineering student in a university video.
Students often use the device to take pictures of planets in space.
"If my professor came to me and said 'I want to shoot lasers at the Earth.' It's my job to make that happen," Pledger said in the video. "It's absolutely an incredible opportunity that we get to do this."
The spacecraft is currently orbiting the sun -- not too far away from the Earth. It will be back near the planet's area in 2037, the report stated.
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