Georgia Tech teams up with NASA to launch satellite into space

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - A group of Georgia Tech students assisted NASA and SpaceX to launch a small satellite into space that was designed and built exclusively by undergraduate students.

“The briefcase-sized Lunar Flashlight will be monitored and controlled over the next several months by a team of graduate and undergraduate students in Georgia Tech’s School of Aerospace Engineering. The team will keep the spacecraft on track and capture the data it gathers to be studied by the Lunar Flashlight Science team,” a news release stated

The spacecraft launched at 2:38 a.m. December 11 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that also carried a Japanese-built lunar lander and a United Arab Emirates rover.

A big crowd on campus this morning at 2:38 to see Lunar Flashlight liftoff to space. These @GTaerospace students will serve as mission control for the briefcase-sized spacecraft, which orbit the moon and search for frozen water. https://t.co/BSNaRhzdwg pic.twitter.com/uiqnCB29lB
— Georgia Tech College of Engineering (@gatechengineers) December 11, 2022

Shortly after launch, Lunar Flashlight separated from the Falcon 9 to begin an approximately three-month journey that will carry it into a fuel-conserving orbital trajectory 42,000 miles beyond the moon.

To the Moon! 🚀
Now that Lunar Flashlight has confirmed it is healthy in space, you can follow the small satellite’s journey to the Moon in real time with @NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System. https://t.co/UoSgdAgXLc pic.twitter.com/6fpHTc5KTe
— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) December 11, 2022

Gravity from the moon, Earth, and Sun will ultimately bring it into a path that will come within nine miles of the lunar surface.

While you were sleeping, Georgia Tech students worked with @NASA and @SpaceX to launch a spacecraft into orbit and now it’s headed to the moon. Here’s the moment they first made contact with the device around 3:47 a.m. #WeCanDoThat | https://t.co/XbLVVoeT5o 🌕🚀 pic.twitter.com/NCTDDOCnv9
— Georgia Tech (@GeorgiaTech) December 11, 2022