Tags: Nanosatellite, NASA, Debris, Air Force
Publication: WGRZ.com
Publication Date: 03/25/2013

GLADOS engineering structure. Image credit: University at Buffalo

NASA has agreed to launch a satellite designed and built by a group of students from the University at Buffalo. The shoebox-sized Glint Analyzing Data Observation Satellite (GLADOS) took the team two years to complete and is designed to track the size and orbit of debris circling our planet.

John Crassidis, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at UB, leads the project, which will test out his theory that glints of sunlight reflecting off space debris could help determine its size, shape, mass and spin. For this, GLADOS is equipped with cameras and navigation equipment. The spacecraft could also help predict the path of space debris several months in advance, thus avoiding orbital collisions.

The team, formed by Crassidis and 40 engineering students, received a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Air Force to fund the GLADOS prototype.

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