Student Led Nano-Satellite Design
Space Science Engineering Laboratory
Research Advisor: Dr. Dave Klumpar
Research Assistant
Fall 2003 - Fall 2004

A consortium of state Space Grants sponsored the MIMIC (Magnetic Investigation of Mars by Interacting Consortia) program, a student-led mission to send a micro-satellite (35 kg) to Mars by the year 2011.  The picture above shows the regions of interest and the satellite.

In support of this, the Montana team participated in weekly telecons with the rest of the Space Grants to present the work that had been completed in the previous week and to plot a course for the following week. As part of my participation in this project, NASA's JPL laboratory extended me the offer to work at their laboratory as an intern.

The satellite's payload includes two magnetometers and a Langmuir probe.  For launch, the satellite would piggyback with a larger spacecraft and then detach upon Martian arrival for orbit insertion.