Under spring clouds billowing over the roof of the Advanced Technologies Lab, a multidisciplinary team of Cal Poly Engineering students spent quarter break working on adjusting two CubeSat tracking antennas that monitor the small satellites in their orbit around the earth.
Computer Engineering student Justin Nguyen, Joshua Anderson (Computer Science) and Justin Sherrell (Mechanical Engineering) worked on the pair of antennas, called “Hertz” and “Marconi,” that track dozens of CubeSats every day.
“We are currently tracking the following CubeSats: CP7-DAVE, CP10-ExoCube, CP-11-ISX, Irvine-01 and Irvine-02,” Nguyen said. “We also track NOAA weather satellites and regularly downlink Earth imagery from them and assist in tracking other CubeSats in the community.”
Nguyen, one of two CubeSat Lab Managers, said the tracking team is about to get busier. “We’ll be launching many more CubeSats this year — LightSail2, CP12-ExoCube2, and CP9-LEO!”
For more information on Cal Poly CubeSats, visit the PolySat website.
