Grad and undergrad students at the University of Michigan are building small satellites, about the size of a loaf of bread, for the Radio Aurora Explorer project that will study space weather. Yeah, that's right, space weather. These space weather satellites are the first free-flying space crafts built by UM students.
Excerpt:
"This project will help us better understand space weather processes,
how the Earth and Sun interact, and how this weather produces noise in
space communication signals -- noise that translates to lower quality
telecommunications capabilities and error in GPS signals," Cutler said.
The RAX satellite will act as a receiver that will pick up signals from
a ground radar transmitter. These radar pulses will reflect off
disturbances, or space weather phenomena, in the ionosphere.
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