Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

U. North Dakota students help build instrument for space
By Theresa Rerick
Dakota Student (U. North Dakota)
03/14/2008

(U-WIRE) GRAND FORKS, N.D. — Students and faculty at the University of North Dakota have made it possible to launch North Dakota's first scientific instrument into space. On Oct. 16, the instrument named AgCam will take its first orbit before beginning its important mission.

AgCam is now being prepared by NASA's Kennedy Space Center for the International Space Station launch later this year.

Device's use

The device is a North Dakota innovation that allows farmers, ranchers, and other citizens to view snapshots of farmland throughout the Upper Great Plains. The snapshots will help farmers and ranchers recognize successful farming strategies.

With a view of plant stress, soil deterioration and pesticide use, farmers can request evaluation of their fields. AgCam will provide farmers with the right knowledge and technology to identify profitable farming practices.

Assistant Director for the Center for People and the Environment Doug Olsen was the project manager for the development of the AgCam. He said that the instrument is a good first space presence for the state.

"The agricultural camera is an excellent entry of North Dakota into the space program," he said. "It has both produced features that will be very useful to farmers, ranchers, and all citizens across the state."

Project development, funding

Olsen said the project was developed in 2001 after some discussion between George Seielstad, director of Northern Great Plains Center for People and the Environment, and Bonnie Dunbar, astronaut and deputy director for University Affairs at NASA's Johnson Space Center.

"The discussion involved how the space station could be used to benefit a broader range of the general public. That was one of the goals of NASA, and that was something that the Upper Midwest Aerospace Consortium concentrated on," Olsen said.

Seielstad wrote the proposal to receive funding for the development of AgCam, and helped promote it to the directors of the Johnson Space Center.

"NASA gave us a lot of help. It was a project that really interested them," he said. "To help provide benefits to society with a new tool struck people as an interesting thing to do in addition to science on the space station. We'll actually be helping people."

Senator Byron Dorgan also helped secure funding for UND's UMAC through his seat on the Senate Appropriations Committee. Dorgan has helped link the University of North Dakota with the research needs of NASA.

He said that the new technology is a breakthrough for the University. "For UND students, working on it was a very big deal," he said. "It's also a very big deal for UND because this doesn't happen to every university in constructing something that provides information precision agriculture."

In response to the needs of a large farming community, UMAC began its work on AgCam.

Student, faculty involvement

The project involved over 40 graduate and undergraduate students and UND faculty members from the electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, computer science and space studies departments. A number of these graduate students have written their thesis projects on the invention of the advanced camera, and many students have been able to begin a career because of their work on the project.

Olsen said that the AgCam research should be a source of pride for the students. "I like to think this is something that they can look back on and say, 'Hey, I worked on something in college that is in orbit now.' The students have felt it to be a very fun project with some real outcomes," he said.

A lot of student projects are invented to teach a concept, not for a use, he added. "This is real, where students had to work as a team and cooperate with each other in many areas," he said.

According to Olsen, the launch of AgCam means a lot for the University. "UND has their name on the map. We worked with close to 200 people at NASA centers in Houston, Alabama, Florida and in California," he said. "There are people high up that we worked with, and UND has made a name for ourselves. The UND flame logo will also be on board the space station, visible in the camera."

Seielstad said the project was a remarkable development for the institution.

"To me, it is exciting and I assume it would be for others at UND. This is something that was built at UND and will be operated by UND, and will deliver benefits to people in the region," he said.

"We will have our own thing in orbit. This is taking North Dakota into the space age and it's a first. I love it and it's really exciting," Seielstad added.

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