![Dr Ross Burgon with the C3D2 payload during acceptance testing [Credit: Courtesy of SSC]](https://ounews.co/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Dr-Ross-Burgon-with-the-C3D2-payload-during-acceptance-testing-Credit-Courtesy-of-SSC.jpg "OU to launch its first ever in-orbit experiment for student labs")
A miniature camera developed by space scientists at the OU will open up a new experience for distance learning students who will be able to interact with a live space instrument. The camera will be on board the Algerian Space Agency’s (ASAL) first CubeSat Mission, which will launch on 26 September 2016.
OU space scientists have developed the C3D2 payload, a highly customisable CubeSat camera suite on board the AlSat Nano joint CubeSat Mission. As well as supporting the research of the OU’s Centre for Electronic Imaging, the payload will act as a pilot remote experiment* for students on the new MSc in Space Science and Technology, which begins in January 2017.
The mission, which itself is an educational development programme, is being run by ASAL in collaboration with the UK Space Agency and Surrey Space Centre.
(“Students will be given the opportunity to work with the CubeSat camera and track the spacecraft using the OpenSTEM Labs Satellite Tracking Station,” said Dr Ross Burgon, OU lead on AlSat Nano [Photograph above].
Professor Nick Braithwaite, OpenSTEM Labs Director, commented “With this live orbiting space instrument, we’ll be taking distance learning to new heights.”
Find out more about AlSat Nano, OpenSTEM Labs, and the OU Space Science research
*The experiment is run by the HEFCE-funded OpenSTEM Labs
