Session
Pre-Conference Workshop Session V: Educational Programs
Location
Utah State University, Logan, UT
Abstract
The US Coast Guard Academy (CGA), which educates future officers for service in the US Coast Guard, is developing a multifaceted program in SmallSats. The CGA space initiative includes undergraduate courses, such as a recently-created Remote Sensing course. It incorporates Virginia Space's ThinSat Educational Program, providing hands-on experience in designing, building, and testing miniature satellites through space mission engineering; this involves collaboration between Science and Engineering and is extended to local high schools through their participation in SmallSat projects with CGA faculty and students. An important addition to the CGA space initiative is an MC3 ground station atop the Science Department building at CGA. It will be used to train cadets in satellite operations and ground station hardware, and to acquire data from satellites, allowing for training in cyber security and data analysis, and for use in student and faculty research projects. Sequential year-long senior student capstone projects in the Engineering Department to design, build, and test CubeSats, including new components and innovations, have already begun and will continue. Additional capstone projects involving CubeSats sensors, the use of UAVs, and remote sensing data analysis, including data from the CGA ground station, are planned in the Science Department with the 2020 implementation of a revised Science major.
Building an Academic Community SmallSat Program
Utah State University, Logan, UT
The US Coast Guard Academy (CGA), which educates future officers for service in the US Coast Guard, is developing a multifaceted program in SmallSats. The CGA space initiative includes undergraduate courses, such as a recently-created Remote Sensing course. It incorporates Virginia Space's ThinSat Educational Program, providing hands-on experience in designing, building, and testing miniature satellites through space mission engineering; this involves collaboration between Science and Engineering and is extended to local high schools through their participation in SmallSat projects with CGA faculty and students. An important addition to the CGA space initiative is an MC3 ground station atop the Science Department building at CGA. It will be used to train cadets in satellite operations and ground station hardware, and to acquire data from satellites, allowing for training in cyber security and data analysis, and for use in student and faculty research projects. Sequential year-long senior student capstone projects in the Engineering Department to design, build, and test CubeSats, including new components and innovations, have already begun and will continue. Additional capstone projects involving CubeSats sensors, the use of UAVs, and remote sensing data analysis, including data from the CGA ground station, are planned in the Science Department with the 2020 implementation of a revised Science major.
