September 20th 2006 1

TJ Faculty Presentation 2006

September 20th 2006 2

Conception of Excelsior

• Last year Jason Ethier (class of ’06) started Excelsior Club

• He wanted TJ students to be able to learn about and participate in aerospace engineering

• He had researched the idea of high school students manufacturing a satellite

• Learned it is actually feasible!

• Orbital Sciences Corp., one of the world's leading providers of small to medium class satellites, agreed to help launch a satellite built by TJ students

•Systems Engineering course began to be offered this year to help build a satellite

September 20th 2006 3

Purpose of TJsat

• Created and run by students

• Provide data for TJ students to use in class or for possible Senior Tech projects

• Provide data for public

• Educate TJ students / all other high school students about satellites

• Show capability of TJ students

• Inspire other high schools around the world to tackle projects that seem unfeasible

September 20th 2006 4

TJsat Details

• It will be a picosatellite = less than 10 kg

• We are using the CubeSat package developed at Stanford University

• 10 cm cube with a mass of up to 1 kg

• Low Earth Orbit

• Orbit the Earth approximately once every 90 minutes

• Launch: piggy-back on a launch vehicle as a secondary payload

• The purpose for it will be determined with the next 3 months

September 20th 2006 5

Systems Engineering Course

• Goal: build the TJ sat within 3 years

• Begin manufacturing next year

• Be ready for launch in spring of 2009

• Build Ground station

• ham certified

• blah

• blah

September 20th 2006 6

Systems Engineering cont.

• Space mission, space environment, orbits, atmospheric entry, spacecraft design, spacecraft subsystems, space operations

• Design Process

• Build

• Test

September 20th 2006 7

Orbital Sciences Corp.

• TJsat will be launched with the support of Orbital Sciences Corp.

• info on orbital….

• 30 or so employees interested in helping

• Orbital is excited about this…

• Engineers from Orbital will be coming into Excelsior Club and the Systems Engineering class to lecture about aerospace technologies

September 20th 2006 8

Orbital Sciences cont.

September 20th 2006 9

Excelsior Club Projects

• This year … education…

• funding

• field trips

• Lectures by Orbital Engineers

• Communicate with other satellites

• CanSat

• Aerospace Conference hosted by TJ for high school students in surrounding counties

September 20th 2006 10

Aerospace Conference ** MRS. WATERFALL• Goal: Educate FCPS high school students and teachers

•Tentative dates

• Feb. 2007 (first annual conference)

• October 2007 (second annual conference) + NCSSSMST Conf

•Method: Presentations, seminars, workshops, showcases

• Speakers:

•Orbital Sciences

•Satellite 2007 Conference http://www.satellite2007.com/

•Other Aerospace Companies

• Former/present high school students Aerospace Science Exhibit

September 20th 2006 11

Advertising Help

• We need help from YOU!

• Science and Tech teachers: please advertise Excelsior Club within your classes especially to students you believe can contribute and would be interested in helping the TJsat project as well as participate in other aspects of Excelsior

• We have handouts you can give students

• There will be a short (1 page) application that students will fill out to be admitted into Excelsior club

• We are asking for a teacher’s signature as a recommendation for that student

• Students can get applications at an Excelsior interest meeting

• We will have interest meetings for the next 2 weeks

September 20th 2006 12

Q & A

THANK YOU FOR COMING