MAE’s cube satellite launched into space Sunday from New Zealand as part of NASA’s Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) program.  Led by Prof. John Conklin and students from the Precision Space Systems Laboratory, the goal of their satellite mission is to explore advanced navigation technologies.

The UF three-cube satellite is named CHOMPTT, which stands for CubeSat Handling of Multisystem Precision Time Transfer, and is designed to ultimately help improve the accuracy of timing-sensitive satellites using laser synchronization schemes developed by Prof. Conklin and his students. The satellite launched Dec. 16 on a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand. Dr. Conklin and his students worked on this project for more than five years, and were delighted to see the successful deployment and then make contact with CHOMPTT. For more information, please see:

https://spacenews.com/rocket-lab-launches-cubesats-for-nasa/
https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/elana-19-chomptt
https://www.gainesville.com/news/20181217/uf-research-satellite-launches-into-orbit