Undergrads at Colorado Crash a NASA Satellite Into The Ocean

Crashing Satellites at CU-Boulder Image courtesy LASP Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (Photo by Glenn Asakawa/University of Colorado)

Call it a crash course. A group of undergrads at the University of Colorado at Boulder got to participate in an unusual and awesome classroom activity on Monday, the culmination of a weeks-long process to decommission a NASA science satellite: they crashed a satellite into the atmosphere, sending it to a fiery death.

The Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) spent seven years aloft under the careful guidance of professionals and their undergrad protégés at CU-Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP). The satellite gathered key data on polar ice, ice sheets and sea ice dynamics that have informed nearly a decade of climate research, but on Monday -- low on fuel and out of time -- ICESat's number was up.

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Technology, Clay Dillow, climate satellites, ICESat, nasa, re-entry, satellites, Space, university of colorado

That location happened to be the Barents Sea north of Norway and Russia, and no more than 200 pounds of ICESat's original 2,000-pound mass was expected to survive re-entry. The team of undergrads and LASP professionals used the last of ICESat's fuel to put it on course for a spectacular death, and on Monday the satellite re-entered the atmosphere and largely burned up.

Such an honor is rare, particularly for undergraduate students. The last decommissioning-by-fire of a NASA satellite occurred in 2002 and was conducted by NASA personnel. That just might qualify them for inclusion in our guide to the 30 coolest college classes in the country.

[University of Colorado]