NASA Space X resupply rocket launches Nebraska CubeSat into outer space

UPDATE - APRIL 17, 1 P.M.: At 1:05 p.m. CDT on Thursday, April 18, the CubeSat satellite built by Nebraska's Big Red Satellite (BRS) team will be deployed from the International Space Station. You can watch the livestream of the deployment by clicking on this YouTube link. The Nebraska satellite will test the performance in outer space of perovskite solar cells from The National Renewable Energy Laboratory. This is the first test in space of perovskite solar cell performance in comparison to the current standard Gallium Arsenide solar cells. Though Perovskites are early in development, NASA is interested in using these cells as they have the potential to be lighter, cheaper, and more efficient.

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When a rocket nicknamed “Cargo Dragon” blasted off from Florida on Thursday afternoon, March 21, it was the beginning of NASA’s 30th commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

Among the 30 tons of cargo aboard Cargo Dragon was a tiny, special payload – the first CubeSat satellite built by a Nebraska team and then launched into space.

The satellite represents more than three years of work by the Big Red Satellite (BRS) team, comprised of students in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Aerospace eXperimental Payload (AXP) team and middle school and high school students from Lincoln, Omaha and Aurora.

“I’ve never touched something that’s gone to space,” said Vince Orsi, a sophomore mechanical engineering major from Omaha and the current mechanical team lead for the BRS CubeSat project.

As part of its CubeSat program, NASA in 2021 chose the Nebraska team to include its satellite experiment included as auxiliary payload aboard a future mission to the ISS. A few months ago, NASA informed BRS that their CubeSat would be aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that was scheduled for an early March launch. Big Red Sat-1 was one of four projects from U.S. universities selected for the program.

A couple of launch delays prevented a team of about 40 BRS current and former team members and family from witnessing the rocket blast off during a spring break trip to the Florida Space Coast last week.

So, on Thursday in a Nebraska Hall lab, a small group of AXP members gathered to watch the livestream of the launch.

As the final seconds of the countdown ticked off and the rocket shot toward outer space, the 10 Nebraska Engineering students in attendance mostly sat quietly, their faces changing from gritted teeth and hopeful intensity to relief and pride.

“It’s a crazy feeling,” said Orsi, who also noted the team’s hopes don’t end with the launch but continue with the possibility of performing pioneering research in the next few months.

The satellite – a cube measuring four inches per side (roughly the size of a small tissue box) and with the volume of less than a quart – will test the performance in outer space of perovskite solar cells from The National Renewable Energy Laboratory. NASA has said the Nebraska CubeSat would be deployed within 90 days of it arriving at ISS. In early April, the BRS received word that the deployment would be on April 18. (See note at the beginning of this article.)

“This formulation of perovskite solar cells has never been to outer space before, so we’re going to see how they work in space and how they work on land,” Orsi said. “So, we’re going to have to wait a little longer to see how that works out.”