Mission
HITechSat
The HITechSat (HTS) program develops rapidly integrable CubeSat platforms for flying new RF instruments. Its first spacecraft, HITechSat-1, is a 3U CubeSat organized into six subsystems — structure and thermal, on-board computer and flight software, electrical power, attitude determination and control, communications and ground station, and payload.
HTS-1 is also a training ground: senior capstone students design and build its subsystems.
Project
FRAMES
FRAMES monitors the ionosphere and magnetic field using radio measurements — Faraday rotation, total electron content (TEC) retrieval and dual-frequency methods.
Technique
Signals of Opportunity
Signals-of-opportunity reflectometry (SoOp-R) and GNSS reflectometry reuse transmissions already in orbit — navigation and communication satellites — as bistatic radar sources. Delay-Doppler mapping of the reflected signals lets small, low-power receivers measure soil moisture, snow, sea ice and other surface properties.
Science
Planetary radio science
Radio occultation and planetary radar probe atmospheres, ionospheres and magnetic fields beyond Earth — including using Faraday rotation in spacecraft radio links to study Jupiter's magnetic field.
Applications
Hydrology
Cryosphere
Natural hazards
Planetary science
Join the lab
Build instruments. Fly CubeSats.
Graduate students, postdocs and undergraduates interested in remote sensing, RF systems and spacecraft are welcome to get in touch.