A satellite made by cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy is now orbiting miles above Earth.
It's called Falcon Sat-X, and it's actually the ninth satellite that has been launched by the academy. Seniors have been working on the project since the fall of 2019 as part of the engineering capstone course, according to the academy.
Daily operations of the satellite, as well as two other cadet-built satellites still in orbit, are managed by the Cadet Space Operations Squadron.
“This is a real-world spacecraft program,” Lt. Col. Dan Showalter, the director for the Space Systems Research Center, said. “The cadets perform work similar to young U.S. Space Force officers and engineers in the industry.”
It was launched on Saturday, November 11 at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. It's what's known as a micro-satellite, roughly the size of a large Amazon box, but it weighs around 400 pounds.
The Air Force Academy said the new satellite will help support technological and scientific experiments.
Click here to learn more about the FalconSat Program.
