The first satellite contest, which was supervised by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, was hosted by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning on July 16th. 11 teams participated and our school proudly passed. The leading role models in the Korean space field were near us. I met the ATLAS team, which is the NASA of Chungbuk National University.

■ The ATLAS team

  Seven departments have gathered to make a satellite since April. At first, there were 3 graduate students from the astronomy department, but it seemed that the 3 members were lacking, so we recruited more people. We are making a 10×10×30cm cube satellite.

■ The cube satellite contest  

  The cube satellites, introduced in the early 2000s, were created for education in the United States. Facebook recently tried to make a cube satellite for using the Internet and observing space weather. Korea started to make cube satellites for education and additionally for training aerospace talent. The cube satellite contest consists of a primary contest evaluating the system design and mission as well as a secondary contest evaluating detailed design. The winning teams receive 170 million won in development and a chance to launch their cube satellite. The reason why we chose the contest is suitability in this age when fusion science technology is the general trend.

■ The mission of the ATLAS team

  Our team is planning 2 missions. The first mission is a biology mission, and the second mission is a smartphone mission. The first mission is observing tiny creatures, like moss or bacteria, because of the small space of the cube satellite. If our team wins this final contest and launches the cube satellite, that will be the first biological cube satellite launch in Korea. The second mission, the smart phone mission, grasps the possibility of smart phone sensor operation in space.

■ The difficult moments in preparing for the contest and the driving forces that helped you overcome those moments

  Most people think that making a cube satellite is difficult, so we worked hard to recruit students. After selecting team members, the team members didn’t have confidence to make the cube satellite, but we worked really hard and gained confidence. The driving forces that helped us overcome the difficult moments were that the field is our favorite area and my team members’ pleasure from giving a boost to their careers. 

■ Our opinion of Korea’s position in the aerospace field

  I don’t know it well, but I think that Korean science technology in the space field evolved in satellites, but the propellant wasn’t developed well. The government needs to have a long-term investment. There are famous examples, like the Pluto exploration of New Horizon and the lunar landing of Apollo.

■ Our future plan

  There is a final cube satellite contest on August 27th. If our team wins, we will launch the cube satellite in the middle of 2017. I have plans to make a club and do some work. Chungbuk National University doesn’t have a strong aerospace infrastructure. If our team gets good results in the contest, we will select undergraduates and train them. About the facilities, we may make a satellite receiving system.

■ CBT’s hope

  ATLAS already passed the primary contest. When this newspaper is published, they might be in the secondary contest. I hope they will get good scores in the secondary contest, and I expect their dreams will be realized.

By Woo Hyun-gi
hg36@cbnu.ac.kr