A 2023 Space Section Senior Design Team won third place at a national SmallSat Alliance (SSA) competition held in Austin, Texas over the summer.
Team Space Raccoons, otherwise known as Team 1 in the 2023 senior design course, designed and built a Rubble Attachment and Conveyance CubeSat (RACC). RACC is a three-unit cubesat (a square-shaped class of miniature satellite) constructed with commercial components, was designed to capture orbital debris.
The team includes MAE students and alum Caden Bjorndahl, Joshua Boyd, Jordan Gonzaga, Jeshua Ray, Parker Rhyne, Olivia Scott, Caden Speakman and Peter Zheng.
The eight members of team Space Raccoons debuted their RACC design at the 2023 senior design symposium, where they won first place against the other teams in their section, winning the favor of the judges in design and presentation.
Now, the team has brought home a podium finish at the national level.
The SSA competition was the first of its kind and the organization plans to continue the event annually. They established the competition in 2022 to recognize innovation in the space industry and support new talent in the field.
According to the SSA website, they are comprised of the most successful and innovative companies in the US smallsat ecosystem, including satellite makers, operators, component suppliers, launch providers, ground and data analytics providers.
To seem read more about the Aerospace Senior Design Course and this year’s projects, visit the senior design webpage, to learn more about Team Space Raccoons’ design, take a look at their symposium poster.