American University helps NASA track history

Professor Michael Robinson helps lead a team of American University students to track the Orion spacecraft鈥檚 radio waves during the 10-day Artemis II journey around the moon. (Courtesy Nikolai Roster)

American University is one of eight universities worldwide that NASA picked to track the Orion spacecraft鈥檚 radio waves during the 10-day Artemis II journey around the moon. (Courtesy Nikolai Roster)

The student-led team has around 12 members and is managed by senior Ankur Purao, who told 草莓传媒, 鈥淚t鈥檚 really cool to be a part of this project.鈥� (Courtesy Nikolai Roster)

The team tracks the spacecraft from a farm event center in Northern Virginia that the school is affiliated with. (Courtesy Nikolai Roster)

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As four astronauts make history in space, students at American University are watching their every move.

AU is one of eight universities worldwide that NASA selected to track the Orion spacecraft鈥檚 radio waves during the 10-day Artemis II journey around the moon.

鈥淣ASA wanted to assess universities’ capabilities for tracking objects as they leave Earth orbit,鈥� said professor Michael Robinson, who advises the project.

鈥淪o find out: Where is it? How far is it? How fast is it moving?鈥�

The student-led team has about 12 members and is managed by senior Ankur Purao, who told 草莓传媒: 鈥淚t鈥檚 really cool to be a part of this project.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 the farthest humans have ever gone,鈥� Purao said. 鈥淚 can tell my kids in 40 years, ‘Hey, I was part of that, and I helped do something for the Artemis mission.’鈥�

The team tracks the spacecraft from a Northern Virginia farm event center with which the school is affiliated with.

鈥淲e were trying to find a space for this project which has low radio noise that we wouldn’t find here in D.C., with all the broadcast signals,鈥� Purao said.

The students wrote software to program radios and equipment to search for the spacecraft.

鈥淚 think part of the experiment is to figure out the capabilities of different technological and infrastructural things like different satellite dishes, and how best they’re able to track the dish,鈥� Purao said.

So, what did the team see using the 2.5-meter-diameter satellite dish?

鈥淓ssentially, just a little blip on a line on a computer screen, and trying to figure out which blip is the right blip,鈥� Purao said.

鈥淚f that’s something we’re actually seeing, or just a bunch of noise from whatever is out there.鈥�

Purao confirmed they believe they found the right blip.

鈥淲e think we’ve seen it, yes,鈥� Purao said.

The most 鈥渟urprising鈥� part of the project for Robinson is 鈥渘ot even scientific.鈥�

鈥淭he excitement of the students is palpable,鈥� Robinson said. 鈥淚 have not seen this kind of excitement for science in years. The students are going from ‘almost could not turn a wrench’ to tracking a spacecraft.鈥�

The AU team will continue to track the Orion spacecraft until it splashes down in the Pacific Ocean on Friday.

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