College Students Help In NASA Mission

Oct. 26 - KGO (KGO) -- At NASA, the next generation of scientists are working on the next generation of satellites. It's called GeneSat for genetic satellite, and it will launch in December. We take a look at how university students are part of the mission.

Mike Rasay is a graduate student at Santa Clara University. He's also an integral part of NASA's GeneSat project set to launch in December.

Mike Rasay, Santa Clara University Student: "It's actually a childhood dream realized."

NASA believes GeneSat is the first satellite of its kind -- a fully automated nano satellite designed to conduct experiments in space and relay that information back to earth.

Bruce Yost, GeneSat Mission Manager: "This mission is about finding different ways to access space, quickly, more often and for a lower cost."

The GeneSat weighs just 10 pounds and what's unique is that it carries a miniature biological laboratory on board.

GeneSat will carry a non-lethal strain of E. coli bacteria to study how the microbes may change genetically during spaceflight.

Mike Rasay and Ignacio Mas are just two of the students from Santa Clara University that helped write a program to track GeneSat in orbit and also carry out the scientific experiments.

Ignacio Mas, Santa Clara University Student: "And then we are going to analyze this and see what the results are of growing bacteria in space."

The beauty of GeneSat is that it's a less expensive, one-way research ticket into space. It will be launched into orbit from an Air Force minotaur rocket. The lab doesn't have to come back to earth and there's no astronauts involved.

John Hines, GeneSat Project Manager: "We're doing the next generation of work, we're doing the cutting edge of things and we're helping to train the next generation of NASA scientists and engineers."

Hines says he's literally grooming his replacements at NASA and that mission is already a success.

John Hines: "It's a dream job and I'd love to work for NASA."

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