Artist's concept of ACTS in space. Photo: GRC-NASA

A NASA experimental satellite that completed its mission to test futuristic communications technologies has been given to a university-led consortium for use in educational studies.

An agreement between the Glenn Research Center, the Ohio Board of Regents and Ohio University allows the eight-year old ACTS to continue operations in geostationary orbit after NASA almost pulled the plug on the program last year. But with enough resources available, officials decided to offer use of the satellite to a university-based group of research institutions.

Glenn issued a nationwide request for applications and the Ohio Board of Regents responded and was selected to form the consortium, which includes Ohio University as the organization spearheading the group.

"The consortium has the impressive potential to advance education and commercial technology development across the state of Ohio and beyond," said Donald Campbell, director of Glenn Research Center. "As a result, we will witness the development of a highly-skilled workforce in a relatively new field, as well as the introduction of state-of-the art products that accompany the evolution of technology."

Officials say that ACTS' future benefits will be able to reach into both the academic and economic sectors and that its use may spur small business growth by acting as a stimulus for the development of future Ka-band ground communications equipment in order to make ACTS' Ka-band communications systems compatible with those on the ground. Ka-band communications systems are able to conduct Internet communications many times faster than most conventional satellites.

The ACTS spacecraft with its Transfer Orbit Stage (TOS) leaves the cargo bay shuttle Discovery hours after launch. Photo: NASA

"It is fantastic to see that one more phase of ACTS is evolving through this educational consortium, far exceeding any of the original program designers' conceptions," ACTS project manager Robert A. Bauer said. "Future benefits to satellite communication education and research in this country, made possible through the consortium, are extremely inspiring."

Other points of interest for the consortium include research activities on Internet communications and using the craft as a learning experience in daily spacecraft operations -- a rare opportunity for budding engineers.

"Interestingly, ACTS was so far ahead of the state of the art when it was launched in 1993 that companies are still interested in using it to develop support systems for the new generation of Ka-band communication satellites expected to be launched in this decade," said Dennis Irwin, the ACTS consortium director. "As far as I am aware, this is the first time a university-led consortium has assumed responsibility for such a significant national asset."

Establishments looking to join the involved institutions include Texas A&M University, SchoolTone Alliance, the Air Force Research Laboratory, E-merging Technologies Group, the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, the Naval Postgraduate School, Andrew Corporation, WildBlue Communications and Naknan.