REACT (Reactionwheel Emissions Analysis and Control Team) is about a 25 member research and development mission focused on advancing satellite technology by addressing a critical but underexplored issue: emissions from satellite reaction wheels. These emissions can interfere with sensitive satellite sensors, reducing performance and mission reliability.
Our team is divided into five specialized subteams: Interior Hardware, Exterior Hardware, Electronics, Software, and Physics. The hardware teams have successfully designed and built a reaction wheel for testing and are now developing the testing environment to simulate space-like conditions. The electronics and software teams collaborate to run the motor system, collect emission data, and analyze results. The physics team is currently testing the impact of eddy currents and helping design experiments to isolate their effects.
Our immediate objective is to experimentally prove, with quantifiable data, that reaction wheels produce emissions capable of disrupting satellite sensors. From there, we aim to design and test mitigation techniques to reduce those effects. All of our work will be carefully documented, with the mission culminating in an academic paper intended to support future satellite development.
Through REACT, students gain hands-on experience in aerospace research while contributing meaningful insights to the broader satellite community.