By: Charles Romans
Carter County Times
NASA launched its Artemis II mission on April 1. The first crewed mission in the Artemis program included NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Academy) astronaut Jeremy Hansen. As of Monday, April 6, the crew had surpassed the previous record for distance of a manned spacecraft, going 248,655 miles from Earth. Artemis II is expected to travel 252,760 miles before returning home.
The flight is definitely an exciting addition to the record books for both countries involved and in fact the entire planet as human beings develop and perfect the technology required to continue exploring the vastness of space. Closer to home, Morehead State University’s Ronald G. Eaglin Space Science Center has additional cause to celebrate, because students there are heavily involved in the Artemis Mission.
Ground Station Engineer Chloe Hart, the Operation Lead for the Morehead Space Science Center’s involvement in Artemis II said that it is a very exciting time.
“The Space Science Center antenna was selected by NASA SCAN (Space Communication and Navigation) to track Artemis II and provide Doppler Tracking,” Hart said.
Such tracking, she said, gathers radiometric data. Radiometric Data, Hart explained, measures how frequency changes over time.
“It’s like when emergency vehicles drive by, you can see the frequency shift,” Hart said. “And that is called the Doppler Effect. The same thing happens in space. So, we use that frequency change over time to get the navigation properties of the spacecraft. And that can turn into trajectories for the navigation.”
Hart said the tracking is all designed to assist NASA’s projecting and confirming trajectories as well as determining capabilities in the larger space community.
“Specifically for Artemis II we have six students that are sitting in on the tracking at any given time,” Hart said. “But we have had many more students involved in helping us getting configured for this mission. There are multiple different areas in space engineering. There are people who work on hardware, people who work on software, and there were many months of preparation and many students involved.”
The Morehead Space Science Center has been collaborating with NASA for many years, Hart said. One of the highlighting moments, she said, was working with NASA on Artemis I.
“We had a secondary payload on that mission called Lunar Ice Cube, and Morehead State University was the primary investigator, and we had many collaborations with NASA on that mission,” Hart said. “So, it’s really nice to follow up and be part of Artemis II as well.”
Hart said she believes the Morehead Space Science Center is one of the best kept secrets in eastern Kentucky. She believes the Space Engineering Program’s approach to aerospace is as all-encompassing as possible. Students are involved in the expected math and sciences, but they are also able to take advantage of classes in proportion and thermodynamics, as well as 3D modeling, among others.
“Really, it’s a wonderful program,” Hart said. “We have been able to produce students that have gone on to work all across the United States. We’ve had students go on to complete doctorate programs and other elite programs. It really prepares you for ‘real life’ in the aerospace industry.”
Contact the writer at charles@cartercountytimes.com
