The University of Texas at Austin’s FASTRAC is in orbit.
FASTRAC was launched into orbit on Friday November 19 at 7:21 pm CST. It was successfully inserted by a Minotaur IV rocket into a 650 km altitude, 72 degree inclination orbit. FASTRAC has been transmitting beacon and crosslink data which have been received by amateur radio operators around the world.
FASTRAC, the Formation Autonomy Spacecraft with Thrust, Relnav, Attitude and Crosslink, is a pair of nanosatellites developed and built by students at The University of Texas at Austin. The project is part of a program sponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), whose goal is to lead the development of affordable space technology. The FASTRAC mission will investigate technologies enabling space research using satellite formations. The utilization of satellite formations in space is a pivotal advancement for the future of space exploration and research.
Congratulations UT. Hook’em Horns!