Kentuckans in Space

This is old news, but probably not well known. For some reason, my adoptive state has decided to join the space race:

Kentucky will become the nation’s first state to send a satellite into space — probably by late 2007 — in a cooperative venture among state universities and agencies designed to promote education, research and economic development.

The satellite program, announced Thursday at the state Council on Postsecondary Education, could help attract high-tech businesses to what is being touted as “Silicon Holler” near Morehead State University, said Morehead President Wayne Andrews.

[…]

The KySat program, expected to cost $375,000 to $400,000, will be funded with state money from the universities and NASA grants, Kimel said. He envisions launching new satellites “with increasing complexity” every 12 to 18 months.

The first satellite will serve mainly as an education tool for Kentucky students, ranging from kindergarten through college. The satellite will have a camera, data storage and a UHF/VHF radio for student and ham radio users.

Tom Layzell, president of the education council, said the KySat program fosters collaboration among the universities, strengthens the state’s position in the “knowledge economy” and further opens an “engineering pipeline” by “creating exciting opportunities for students.”

Garrett Chandler of Quitman, Texas, a UK master’s degree student in electrical engineering, was excited about KySat’s emphasis on outreach to K-12 students. “This is important because the second-, third- and fourth-graders today are going to be developing the manned mission to Mars,” he said. “The emphasis is not just to launch a satellite but to build a pipeline to K-12.”

If it were up to me, and if I were trying to improve on Kentucky’s 48th ranked math and science high school test scores, I’d probably spend the $400 grand trying to improve our math and science test scores.

I’m just sayin’.