• Dr. James Cutler
• University of Michigan
• Holden Auditorium
• 4:00 p.m.

May 2, 2011 – Nanosatellites are proving to be a useful tool for increasing our capabilities in space flight, space exploration, and space science.  For example,  at the University of Michigan, we have recently built and launched the National Science Foundation's (NSF)  first nanosatellite mission, the Radio Aurora Explorer.  RAX is the first of seven missions funded by the NSF to explore space weather through novel experiments and space missions.  RAX is a bistatic radar mission to measure ionospheric disturbances at polar latitudes.  In this talk, we will discuss the several nanosatellite missions under development at the University of Michigan.  Our first mission, RAX, was launched in November 2010 and demonstrated successful bistatic radar measurements.  We will also describe our research program focused on design and operation optimization of nanosatellite missions.