The Business Monthly Bowie State Partnership Delivers Out-Of-This-World Learning Experience By George Berkheimer Lots of universities have satellite campuses, but only one has its very own satellite. Since 1997, students at the Bowie Satellite Operations and Control Center (BSOCC) at Bowie State University have been monitoring and controlling an orbiting research spacecraft, collecting data from it and earning NASA certifications in the process. A joint venture shared by Bowie State, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, and Honeywell Technology Solutions of Columbia, the BSOCC provides hands-on satellite flight operation experience for computer science students with an interest in astrophysics. It is the only mission control center in the nation operated primarily by undergraduate and graduate students. BSOCC's Lab Director Todd Watson, a Honeywell employee, happened to be among the three students who made up the university's original mission control team. He observed that the venture is unique both in terms of its partnership configuration as well as in terms of the benefits it produces. "NASA provides the satellite equipment, Bowie State University provides the space and facilities ... and Honeywell provides the certification training," Watson said. "We're doing real science here, extending the life of a research platform and turning out future scientists who already have a lot of experience under their belts." As part of their studies, students who staff the center are able to earn certification in up to three areas: Command Controller, responsible for setting up real-time contact with satellites and monitoring the receipt of data; Mission Planner, responsible for uploading instructions for the satellite to follow when it isn't in contact with ground controllers; and Spacecraft Analyst, who oversees the Command Controller and Mission Planner while resolving any anomalies in the spacecraft's onboard subsystems. Program directors plan to introduce the computer- and network-oriented Ground Control Analyst as a fourth certification option next year, Watson said. High Altitude Recycling The core component of the BSOCC's educational mission is the Solar, Anomalous and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer (SAMPEX), a satellite launched in July 1992 as part of NASA's Small Explorer (SMEX) program. The satellite carries four instruments that study solar energetic particles, anomalous cosmic rays, galactic cosmic rays and the radiation environment of Earth's magnetosphere. Among its accomplishments is the discovery of a previously unknown radiation belt surrounding the Earth, albeit prior to its transfer to the BSOCC. Designed and built at GSFC, SAMPEX weighs approximately 400 pounds and orbits Earth once every 96 minutes at an altitude of about 360 miles. It originally was conceived as an inexpensive, highly-focused tool with a life expectancy of only two to three years, but SAMPEX has outperformed NASA's expectations by magnitudes. "It's the little satellite that could," said NASA's Leigh Gatto, former mission director of the SMEX program. "Its cryogen supply and other consumables have been used up, but its instruments continue to work, and over the years we've figured out new ways to use them and continue to do science." It seemed a waste to just throw the satellite away at the end of its three-year mission, he said, especially during a time in the mid-1990s when then-GSFC Director Joe Rothenberg was looking for ways to involve universities and their students to reduce the operating costs of extended-duration science missions. "Bowie State has had a long relationship with NASA Goddard and is only six miles away," Watson said, "so it was logical for NASA to ask the university for space and resources." Seed money from the Goddard Director's Discretionary Fund helped start the program, which has continued to operate with the help of university stipends for the students and grants from both NASA and the National Science Foundation, Watson said. Student Achievement In the 13 years since acquiring operational control of SAMPEX, the BSOCC has blazed its own orbit of success, to include a 100% graduation rate. Approximately 50 students have been certified through the program to date, Watson said, and about half of those students have gone on to work in the aerospace industry for firms such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing, or at agencies that include GSFC and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Shawn Mathews, of Landover, a Computer Science undergraduate in her senior year, was introduced to the BSOCC by a friend who was enrolled in the program. Mathews began her own training program in January this year and is currently working toward earning her third certification. While she hasn't yet decided on a specific career path, "it certainly gives me a broader range of careers to choose from, either in the space or information technology fields," she said. Another current Computer Science undergraduate in the program, junior Kwasi Acquaah, of Gettysburg, Penn., said he has been fascinated with space and space exploration since childhood. He eventually hopes to land a job at NASA after graduation. "It doesn't matter where," he said. "I'm working on my first certification as a Mission Planner, and I hope to find an internship around the area to explore other aspects of exploration and research." Looking for Alternatives In addition to its discoveries, SAMPEX has been helpful in forecasting space weather - that is to say, predicting when solar and other harmful energy particles could affect orbiting spacecraft and determining how they could be affected - and in observing parts of three solar cycles to create a baseline that can help scientists better understand solar activity. Still, for all its usefulness, SAMPEX and even the BSOCC must someday acquiesce to the law of gravity, and that day is rapidly approaching. "Present life expectancy is several years from now," Watson said. "We should be safe until at least 2014, but the orbit will eventually deteriorate and the satellite will reenter Earth's atmosphere and be destroyed." In the meantime, he and Gatto have entered into talks with NASA about the possibility of taking over another spacecraft. "We had [control of] the WIRE (Wide Field Infrared Explorer) here for four years, which focused on star quakes and astroseismology," Watson said. "This has been an enormously important effort, because we've graduated students from the program who are actually getting jobs in directly related fields." "[The BSOCC] is my baby," Gatto added. "I'm going to continue to lobby for it." SANDRA M. PHOENIX Program Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 404.592.4820 1438 West Peachtree Street NW Suite 200 Atlanta, GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (Lyrasis) www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children.