Lab launches engineering students’ lofty dreams




METICULOUS WORK—Annabelle Hynes, 18, of Simi Valley, works on the CubeSat satellite as Eric Tapper of General Dynamics, an aerospace engineering company, monitors another part of the project. Courtesy of Annabelle Hynes

METICULOUS WORK—Annabelle Hynes, 18, of Simi Valley, works on the CubeSat satellite as Eric Tapper of General Dynamics, an aerospace engineering company, monitors another part of the project. Courtesy of Annabelle Hynes

Creating satellites to explore space is no longer just for adults.

At Grace Brethren High School, a group of about 20 students have made it their mission to launch a small satellite into orbit by 2020.

Known as CubeSat, the device contains a payload that can be monitored from the ground and is equipped with small yet strong LED lights that will send satellite-operating information to the mission operations center at the Grace Brethren Space Lab, said Annabelle Hynes, an 18-year-old graduate who worked on the project.

“Being the only girl involved in the spacecraft class and working on CubeSat has been an interesting experience, and we’ve gotten to do a lot of really exciting, hands-on things with this project,” Annabelle said.

“We’re still figuring out the basics, but . . . the plan is to track the satellite from the school and communicate with it. It will be open to other organizations so they can use the data we collect.”

Annabelle said the satellite will track temperature and collect data on how the device reacts to zero gravity.

The group of teens worked on the satellite at the school’s Space Brethren CubeSat Laboratory, which opened in November 2018 and features computers, simulators and other equipment that students use to design and build the satellite and monitor its flight path.

Asher Brown, a 17-year-old graduate, said the CubeSat program was done in partnership with Virginia-based aerospace company General Dynamics. Recently, Asher said, the aerospace company has created a the CubeSat program and launched it at a few high schools nationwide. Grace Brethren was among the sites chosen, the teen said.

“We got to do things that you normally wouldn’t be able to until pursuing a master’s degree,” Asher said.

“For me personally, I love engineering and all things that have to do with flying and space, so it was very enjoyable for me for that reason and also to think that only a small number of high schools across the country got to do this too.”

While Annabelle and Asher won’t get to be part of the team that launches the satellite—planned for 2020–the teens did help lay the groundwork for the project.

Asher said this year’s club was responsible for planning the mission and deciding what kind of equipment would go on the satellite.

In addition to working on the groundwork for the CubeSat, the students went on field trips to places like Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena and the NTS testing facility in Santa Clarita that tests, inspects and certifies space exploration equipment, aviation parts and other engineering projects.

They got to see multimillion-dollar engineering and flight models up close and were able to interact with them.

“We got to give commands to an engineering model of a Navy communications satellite that’s currently being used and is worth something like $16 million.

When would a high school student ever get to do that? It was awesome,” Asher said.

Annabelle said touring the facilities was inspiring to her because she got to walk in the footsteps of engineers who had helped build and launch satellites.

“It made me want to learn more about the field and make it part of my future,” she said.

Working on the CubeSat and taking several engineering classes in high school inspired Asher and Annabelle to pursue careers in engineering.

Annabelle will attend George Fox University in Oregon in the fall to study environmental engineering. She hopes to combine her education with her passion for missionary work and one day help create healthier environments by building air and water filtration systems.

Asher will go to Western Michigan University to major in aerospace engineering and join the Air Force ROTC.

After college, he said, he plans to join the Air Force and become a pilot.