Brooklyn has gone space age.

On Thursday, Medgar Evers College in Crown Heights became the first predominantly minority educational institution to launch a nanosatellite into space under NASA‘s Educational Launch of Nanosatellite program, according to a press release. The launch took place from the Vandenberg Airforce base. Considerably more detail may be found at NasaSpaceflight.com. The Medgar Evers College satellite will be monitoring satellite spin and the efficiency of batteries and solar panels.

From the Medgar Evers Announcement:

Dr. Shermane Austin, Director of the CUNYSAT program and Professor of Computer Science at Medgar Evers College, stated, “It is really exciting to come full circle on this project. This has been a learning process for both faculty and students and we are really excited about the upcoming launch.” The CUNYSAT Microsatellite program was initiated with a Minority-Serving Partnership Award from the NASA National Space Grant Program in 2009. The proposal was submitted in conjunction with Cornell University, where the NASA New York State Space Grant Consortium is based. The Principal Investigator is Dr. Austin and the co-Principal Investigator, at that time, was Dr. Mason Peck of Cornell. Dr. Peck is now NASA’s Chief Technology Officer.

[Medgar Evers College]


-30-