This week, two projects will begin their journey from the University of Kentucky College of Engineering into space. And lucky CoE family members have an opportunity to “make their mark” in history.

The Sub-Orbital CubeSat Experimental Mission, (SOCEM) will be heading to NASA Goddard/Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island Virginia to be integrated aboard a 40 foot, two-stage sounding rocket. SOCEM consists of hardware developed by UK students to interface a standardized satellite launcher inside a NASA sounding rocket. It will be used to launch two student built satellites, one of which, called ADAMASat, was also developed by UK students. SOCEM is set to launch in January of 2010 and will reach an altitude of over 300 kilometers where the spacecraft will be “visible” to the satellite antennas atop FPAT to gather flight data.