ACC and RRCC RockSat-X ‘23-’24 Team

ACC and RRCC RockSat-X ‘23-’24 team on the launch pad posing for picture

After nearly a year of hard work, the students of the RockSat-X ‘23-’24 team (a combined group of Arapahoe Community College and Red Rocks Community College space grant club students) were able to watch the successful launch of the rocket carrying their scientific payload at the Wallops Flight facility in Virginia on August 13.

Rocksat launch
Launch

This project provided an opportunity for students to gain hands on experience with an engineering project. Over the course of two semesters, the students planned, designed, and built their experimental payload. They also participated in numerous design reviews with the team at NASA and had the opportunity to present their experiment and research at the ACC research symposium and the Colorado Space Grant Consortium Symposium.

ACC and RRCC students working on laptops during the design phase
Design phase
Experimental testing of equipment
Experimental testing
ACC student working on the final build
Final build

This year’s experiment was designed to test the impact of spaceflight and a microgravity environment on simulated moon dust (lunar regolith) as well as testing the viability of a cost-effective and payload friendly star tracker.

Nearly complete payload
Nearly complete payload
Integration of payload into rocket
Integration of payload into rocket

The aim of these experiments was to increase knowledge about the viability of utilizing  resources on the lunar surface and optimizing the future of spaceflight. Students will analyze collected data and produce a final report in the coming weeks.

RockSat-X ‘23-’24 Team
RockSat-X ‘23-’24 Team

 

Find more information about this flight and the other experiments. 

View the video of the launch. 

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