High School Students Send Tiny Satellite into Space

Yesterday a team of high school students put science fairs the world over to shame. Thanks to the work of 50 students over the course of 7 years, a pint-sized satellite set sail yesterday aboard a Minotaur 1 rocket, headed for Earth orbit. They call the cube TJ^3Sat (so named for Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology where the students study). It is the size of a Rubik's cube and can be controlled with a smartphone. The pint-sized satellite has now entered orbit, and you can see where it is at any time via the project's real-time satellite tracking. Like most satellites, TJ^3Sat will send and receive data. In this case, that data will come from public submissions to the project's website. Give it a shot by suggesting a text. Those texts that get approved will be beamed up to the satellite, converted to audio, and then broadcast ...