Rescued Satellite Dish Gets Another Shot at the Moon

Peter Pachowicz, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, says the salvaged satellite dish will serve as a platform for hands-on student projects, including senior design projects and student club activities.

Photos by Ron Aira

CORPORATE PARTNERS

Rescued Satellite Dish Gets Another Shot at the Moon

Sometimes the race to space begins in your own backyard.

That was the case for Mason Engineering’s Peter Pachowicz, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering.

Last winter, Pachowicz got word that a 27-year-old, 30-foot satellite dish on the Fairfax Campus was going to be demolished. “If we didn’t take it, it was headed to the scrap yard,” he says.

Pachowicz looked to CACI, a longtime corporate partner of the Volgenau School of Engineering, for help. CACI is a provider of information solutions and services—including satellite engineering and space operations—in support of national security missions. The company agreed to sponsor a project to make the satellite dish—which is being donated and fnancially supported by a subsidiary of the George Mason University Instructional Foundation—available to students.

“This satellite dish is a powerful system that ignites the excitement of everyone involved in the project,” says John Mengucci, the company’s chief operating offcer. “It represents a unique opportunity for CACI engineers to join forces with Mason students and faculty as they explore the outer limits of what is possible.”

The dish, which Pachowicz dubbed Space Communications Ground Station, or SpaceCom, will be used to receive signals, data, and images from satellites as well as signals

Mason students can join the renewed space race.

from missions to the moon. “Mason students can join the renewed space race,” he says.

It will also serve as a platform for student projects, including senior design projects and student club activities.

Other benefts will include hands-on experience communicating with spacecraft traveling to the moon and with satellites, he says. “We believe that the involvement of students in all aspects of dish modifcation and upgrades will provide an unprecedented learning opportunity.”

When Pachowicz tells students about this opportunity, “[they] jump at the chance and ask when they can work on it.”

—Nanci Hellmich

Pictured in front of the satellite are Sammy Lin, Aaron Martinez (front row), Brian Smiga, Landon DeCoito, Peter Pachowicz, Jay Deorukhkar, and Keerthana Nukavarapu.

SUSTAINABILITY

Partnerships make sustainable cities, towns, and structures by seeking solutions to environmental problems that matter.