The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has selected a Kentucky-built satellite, called KySat-1, to fly in its Glory mission in November.

Ky-Sat-1 will fly as part of NASA’s Educational Launch of Nanosatellites, or ELaNA, mission., which calls for the launch of small research satellites for universities.
In Kentucky, multiple universities will be represented because KySat-1 is part of Kentucky Space, a nonprofit consortium involved in the design and development of entrepreneurial and educational space platforms.

Lexington, Ky.-based Kentucky Science and Technology Corp. manages the consortium. Membership includes several universities across the state, the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, Kentucky Space Grant Consortium, Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education and Belcan Corp., an engineering and technical services company with operations in Erlanger and Lexington, Ky.

Satellites from Montana University and the University of Colorado also were selected to fly. University of Florida’s satellite was selected as an alternate in case one of the others could not fly.

The satellites are about four inches and weigh no more than 2.2 pounds.

KySat-1 includes a camera that will be used to support a scientific outreach program for Kentucky students in kindergarten through 12th grade. It also has a 2.4-gigahertz industrial, scientific and medical band radio to test high-bandwidth communications.

For more information about KySat-1, visit www.kentuckyspace.com.

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