Did You See It?

Minotaur I lifted off from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on November 19, creating an arc of light that was visible to nearly all parts of the eastern United States. Identified as the ORS-3 mission, it carried a record-breaking 29 satellites into orbit, including Black Knight Satellite 1 (BKSat1), UMSA’s first satellite in space. According to LTC Daniel Bennett, Assistant Professor with the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, “BKSat1 is a multi-discipline project intended to provide cadets operational knowledge and experience with spacecraft development and design.” In particular, BKSat1 aims to demonstrate an experimental passive attitude control system, which is supposed to stop the cube-shaped satellite from spinning out of control when it is ejected from the rocket. BKSat1 will also send an assortment of telemetry data as well as pictures back to a ground station at USMA. Speaking of pictures, John Pellino, USMA DPTMS, captured this shot from the grounds of West Point (Fort Putnam) as the rocket blazed across the night sky.