Engineering Physics seniors  Amber-Rose White and Keith Bux have been selected as members of a statewide team working to put a satellite in Earth orbit. Over the past several months, they have been involved in the design and construction of a small satellite to promote science and engineering innovation and education in Kentucky.
      On Dec. 5, the students traveled to the launch facility at White Sands, NM, to participate in a sub-orbital launch to test subsystems and processes under development for future missions with launch targets beginning in 2008. 

      A successful liftoff was achieved and the payload systems were functioning well, but the launch vehicle sustained a catastrophic failure and failed to reach the target altitude of about 203 miles. Amber-Rose and Keith were proud to see their design take flight, and look forward to continuing their satellite design work during the spring semester. The project is sponsored by the Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation and KySAT (Kentucky Satellite), a consortium of Kentucky universities.