The mission will mark a South Carolina first for gathering scientific research in space.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) — Two College of Charleston students are reaching major milestones this week with a long-running student project set to launch to the International Space Station. The mission, set to launch Wednesday morning, will mark a South Carolina first for gathering scientific research in space. Space Station mission The two-part mission will first go to the International Space Station. “It will be taking UV data to monitor a binary star system, which just consists of two stars in one solar system,” said Gael Gonzalez, a student at College of Charleston. South Carolina native Gonzalez aspires to one day be a researcher for NASA. The senior astrophysics and physics major has been working on this project for two years and will be monitoring how the star and planet interact with each other through photo-metric data. “Measuring the light variations will help us understand how the star behaves,” Gonzalez said. The data could potentially identify habitable zones around those types of stars. The camera is expected to return in about six months. The second launch comes this summer. A standalone satellite will operate for about a year, collecting data. Student research Eva Godwin is also a senior studying astrophysics and physics and a South Carolina native. She researched how to ensure the cube set points at the star set they plan to study. “We want to be able to picture the stars when they’re farthest apart from each other. So it was my job to go into historical logs and record essentially the separation of the binary stars,” Godwin said. This is the College of Charleston’s first project launching into space. “That’s a huge milestone for us both demonstrating the student projects that are largely undergraduate student-led are able to do things that like create a payload or develop a payload that launches into space,” said Joe Carson, professor of astrophysics at College of Charleston. Carson is overseeing the project and said small missions like this are the future of astronomy and space research because of how fast they can get tiny advanced technology into space. He said this project is laying the groundwork for future College of Charleston projects. “We hope that this is one of many more launches to come out of the College of Charleston,” Carson said. “It’s so exciting to say that I have touched something that is going into space,” Godwin said. “We’re all excited for the launch,” Gonzalez said. All three are already in Florida, preparing for the launch Wednesday morning. The mission cost over $100,000 and Carson said the students raised money through grants with the College of Charleston, NASA, and international organizations that support student research. They all thanked collaborators at the University of Chile, Professor Carson’s startup company, ‘Pensievision,’ and the community for support.

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