In the spring of 2021, Rhodes announced that its research proposal for a four-inch, cube-shaped satellite named RHOK-SAT was selected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for its CubeSat Launch Initiative, which provides U.S. universities, high schools, and nonprofit organizations the opportunity to fly their miniature satellites aboard a NASA-sponsored rocket.
The RHOK-SAT project actually began in 2019, and after six years in the making, the Rhodes CubeSat has been delivered to NASA’s Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston. It will wait for liftoff in June 2025 aboard NG-22 from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida and will be taken to the International Space Station for deployment. Jose Pastrana ’20, lead engineer of the CubeSat Program at Rhodes, along with current students Damian Nguyen ’25 and Ryan McCrory ’25, travelled to Houston March 17-20.
The Rhodes team is led by physics professors Bentley Burnham (program director), Brent Hoffmeister and Ann Viano, and computer science professor Phil Kirlin. Students from various majors and class years have contributed to the design of RHOK-SAT, which represents the collaboration between Rhodes and the University of Oklahoma Photovoltaic Materials and Devices Group.
RHOK-SAT’s scientific mission is to test novel perovskite photovoltaic cells in the environment of space to determine if this type of cell material shows promise for future lunar and planetary missions. Perovskites have shown enhanced power production with or without direct sunlight when compared to traditional types of solar cells. The Rhodes team was responsible for designing the payload and top-level software of the satellite, while the University of Oklahoma team provided the experimental cells and analysis.
Dr. Charles W. Robertson Jr., who is a member of the Rhodes Class of 1965 and co-founder of NanoDrop Technologies Inc., initially encouraged Rhodes to develop a proposal to be submitted to NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative and generously provided funding for the project.
Once launched, RHOK-SAT is expected to be in orbit for approximately one year and transmit data to the satellite ground station installed in Rhodes Tower for the project.
“I am extremely proud of our team who persevered through many challenges, including the pandemic, to deliver our satellite to NASA,” said Hoffmeister.” It has been an incredibly valuable experience for our students, providing them with skills that are in very high demand.”