UND's AgCam blasts off aboard Endeavor
by James Johnson, Grand Forks Herald
Published Friday, November 14, 2008
reprinted with permission of the Grand Forks Herald
If the lens aperture on UND’s AgCam is as wide as the eyes of those who watched it launch into space Friday night, the images will be spectacular.
The space shuttle Endeavour lifted off on schedule at 6:55 p.m. with AgCam as part of its payload. One of AgCam’s console operators who witnessed the launch about four miles from Kennedy Space Center said he was on edge.
“First, there was the weather,” Michael Thomas said in a phone interview. “Then, moments before, at about the nine-minute mark, they held up the countdown over an issue with the door configuration.”
Then, Thomas said the ignition rockets flared and roared, the ground shook and the shuttle blasted off.
“Absolutely fantastic,” Thomas said. “I’ve never experienced something like that before. Your bones are rattling. You feel the sound of it inside of you.”
Back in Grand Forks, more than seven dozen people gathered in UND’s Clifford Hall to watch a live NASA broadcast of the launch.
Nate Ambler, AgCam operations analyst, told the gathering the project is “one of the most monumental accomplishments a university can have.”
Richard Schultz, chairman of electrical engineering at the UND School of Engineering and Mines, said 51 students and faculty from eight UND departments have designed and built “a good working camera.”
Once mounted inside the International Space Station in March, AgCam will send back photos and data that can be used by farmers, ranchers and foresters to increase the yield on their land.
AgCam is expected to work for three growing seasons, through 2011. Students will command the camera from the UND Science Operations Center in Clifford Hall.
“Now, Mission Control is at UND,” said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., in recorded remarks.
Schultz recognized the efforts of George Seielstad, director of UND’s Center for People and the Environment, and project director Doug Olsen.
“Doug kept the interest level up when I was losing faith,” Schultz said before turning his praise toward the students. “They’re very resilient, love to learn, and not afraid to get their hands dirty.”
Schultz described how many of the graduate students were hired at places where more testing for AgCam was conducted. The research extended as far away as Iowa, Colorado, Indiana, Texas and Florida, and as nearby as Arctic Cat in Thief River Falls.
“AgCam cost about $2 million to $4 million dollars,” Schultz said. “If Boeing had done it, it would have probably cost $50 million.” He said Endeavour’s seven astronauts had about three hours to learn about AgCam and any troubleshooting involved with it.
“Am I proud of my old school,” Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., said. “My experiences at UND were out of this world, but not to this extent.”
Pomeroy said we can’t fully imagine the applications from AgCam’s technology. “Who knows where this will all go.”
State Sen. Ray Holmberg, R-Grand Forks, searched for a French phrase to describe everyone behind AgCam as “imaginaires extraordinaires.”
Reach Johnson at (701) 780-1262; (800) 477-6572, ext. 262; or send e-mail to jjohnson2@gfherald.com.
