VIDEO NEWS RELEASE: UH satellite to collect neutrons in space

Link to video and sound (details below): https://bit.ly/2GbcDY0

WHAT:  Neutron-1, a small satellite involving more than 100 University of Hawaiʻi students, faculty, staff and volunteers, will be launched on September 29, on the ELaNa 31, NG-14 International Space Station (ISS) resupply mission from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

WHO:  Amber Imai-Hong, an avionics engineer at the Hawaiʻi Space Flight Laboratory (HSFL) and ground station coordinator for the Neutron-1 mission, and Miguel Nunes, an assistant faculty at the Hawaiʻi Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, deputy director of HSFL, systems engineer and assistant project manager for the Neutron-1 mission.

WHERE: University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

HOW: Neutron-1 is launching on a rideshare mission, which includes other satellites, and will be in space for approximately one year. 

WHY: During the mission, Neutron-1 will measure neutrons in space and radiation coming from the Sun. For the electronics inside Neutron-1, UH collaborated with Arizona State University (ASU) on the payload. Neutron-1 will provide prolonged exposure to the space environment for technology evaluation and serve as a test platform for ASU's payload, which is scheduled to fly on the LunaH-Map Mission to the Moon.

OTHER FACTS:

• Through the 2015 RockSat-X mission, Kauaʻi Community College, Windward Community College, Honolulu Community College and Kapiʻolani Community College were also involved with the development of this mission.

• The mission was proposed in 2011, and accepted in 2012 by NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative. 

• UH delivered the small satellite to NanoRacks, LLC, in Houston, Texas on August 20.

• Undergraduate students from departments such as mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer science and more gained first-hand experience in aerospace research with the design and testing of a satellite. 

• The launch is scheduled for Tuesday, September 29, 4:27 p.m. HST and will be live on NASA TV.

• The Neutron-1 mission was primarily supported and funded by the Hawaiʻi Space Grant Consortium.

VIDEO BROLL: trt 1:15

• Timelapse and standard video of researchers working on Neutron-1

SOUNDBITES:

Amber Imai-Hong, Hawaiʻi Space Flight Laboratory, Avionics Engineer (16 seconds)
“It’s approximately the size of a loaf of bread and the data gathered by the satellite will be used to understand the relationship between the Earth and the Sun by mapping neutrons in the low-earth orbit.”

Miguel Nunes, Hawaiʻi Space Flight Laboratory, Deputy Director (15 seconds)
“We expect it to be ejected from the ISS in mid-November. From that day on, it will take no more than a few hours for the satellite to pass over Hawaiʻi and that’s when we should expect the first contact with the satellite.” 

Imai-Hong (12 seconds)
“We’re hoping that Neutron-1 is able to operate in space and that we can prove to the aerospace community that UH is a great place to do aerospace research.”

Nunes (14 seconds)
“Neutron-1 will be collecting neutrons in space and this will allow us to understand if there’s water in the Moon in the future. So that’s one of the most interesting aspects of this mission.”