Space

Bringing space closer to home through remote sensing, direct imaging, and space systems and communications

UMass Lowell brings together today’s leaders in space science and technology to study and understand interactions between Earth and the solar system and beyond. Researchers, students and industry partners work collaboratively to develop and validate instrumentation and technology that advance fundamental research.

Recent Launches

SPACE HAUC

SPACE HAUC is a student cube satellite (CubeSat) project that was built by 100+ students over 5 years.
SPACE HAUC was launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Aug. 29, 2021 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The satellite was successfully released into orbit from the International Space Station on Oct. 12, 2021.
Students will be maintain communications through a student-developed radio communication system on the CubeSat. The SPACE HAUC mission aims to demonstrate - for the first time - the feasibility of a student-developed radio communications system at high data rates in the X band, using a phased array of 16 patch antennas on the CubeSat.

PICTURE-C

Planetary Imaging Concept Testbed Using a Recoverable Experiment - Coronagraph (PICTURE-C) is a planet-searching telescope
PICTURE-C launched on Oct. 4, 2019 at 11:07 a.m. EST from the NASA Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Fort Sumner, N.M. The telescope was lifted to the edge of the Earth's atmosphere to about 125,000 feet by a gigantic helium balloon about the size of a football field.
The telescope's ultimate goal is to detect Earth-like "exoplanets" around sunlike stars capable of supporting life. The instrument includes a unique imaging system designed to block out direct sunlight from stars so that objects close to them, including planets that would otherwise be hidden from view by stars' glare, can be studied in detail.