Journey Magazine 2012 | Page 7

Student Highlights AubieSat-1 The Auburn University student-built satellite, AubieSat-1, was launched into space and is now orbiting the globe. The launch occurred at 4:48 a.m. on Oct. 28, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California aboard a NASA-sponsored Delta II rocket. The construction of the satellite was part of the Auburn University Student Space Program, and AubieSat-1 is the first student-built satellite in the state to be accepted by NASA for launch. Numerous universities and individual ham radio operators around the globe signed up to help track AubieSat-1, and the first signal was received shortly after launch from Vigo University in Spain. The signal was also heard as far away as Japan and as near as the University of Alaska. “We have received messages from all over the world from people who have made communication with our satellite,” said J-M Wersinger, professor emeritus in the Department of Physics and Auburn University Student Space Program direc ܋