{"693059":{"#nid":"693059","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Students to Fly NASA Spacecraft from Campus Mission Control","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAfter NASA\u2019s CubeSat reaches orbit in early October, it will spend nine months testing a new kind of propulsion system. And participating in the flight every step of the way will be a group of Georgia Tech students sitting in a mission control center in Atlanta.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe mission is the culmination of three years of designing, building, and testing the small satellite, known as the ASCENT Propulsion Dual Mode spacecraft.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhat makes this mission especially meaningful is that our students have been involved every step of the way,\u201d said Glenn Lightsey, professor and John W. Young Chair in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering. \u201cOpportunities to take a spacecraft from concept to flight and perform mission operations are rare, and our students have earned that experience through an extraordinary amount of hard work and dedication.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe spacecraft is slated to lift off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. It will operate in low Earth orbit at an altitude near 500 kilometers, higher than the International Space Station.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ae.gatech.edu\/news\/2026\/09\/georgia-tech-students-fly-nasa-spacecraft-campus-mission-control\u0022\u003EGet the full story\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003EThe student-operated CubeSat will test next-generation propulsion technology during a nine-month mission.\u003C\/div\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The student-operated CubeSat will test next-generation propulsion technology during a nine-month mission."}],"uid":"35575","created_gmt":"2026-10-02 21:22:16","changed_gmt":"2026-10-02 21:26:56","author":"adavidson38","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-10-02T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-10-02T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"681342":{"id":"681342","type":"image","title":"GPDM-83.jpeg","body":"\u003Cdiv\u003ELeft to right, front row: Morgan Gregg, Nina Otebele, Marian McDaniel, Megha Ayyaswamy, Glenn Lightsey. Back row: Colin Quinn, Zuzu Jenni, Katya Tumanova, Ryan McKee, Mason Starr, Andrew Basin.\u003C\/div\u003E","created":"1790976163","gmt_created":"2026-10-02 21:22:43","changed":"1790976163","gmt_changed":"2026-10-02 21:22:43","alt":"Georgia Tech students, faculty, and staff pose with spacecraft hardware beneath the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering Mission Operations Center sign.","file":{"fid":"265720","name":"GPDM-83.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/10\/02\/GPDM-83.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/10\/02\/GPDM-83.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":332994,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/10\/02\/GPDM-83.jpeg?itok=7Mrb1vSj"}}},"media_ids":["681342"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/gtri.gatech.edu\/newsroom\/lunar-flashlight-heads-moon-search-water","title":"Lunar Flashlight Heads to the Moon to Search for Water"},{"url":"https:\/\/ae.gatech.edu\/news\/2022\/08\/cubesat-artemis-i-mission-uses-georgia-tech-propulsion-system","title":"CubeSat on Artemis I Uses Georgia Tech Propulsion System"}],"groups":[{"id":"660370","name":"Space"}],"categories":[{"id":"136","name":"Aerospace"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"}],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193657","name":"Space Research Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter and Media Contact:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:monique.waddell@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EMonique Waddell\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["monique.waddell@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}