Morehead State partners with KSAT for lunar mission support

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - Morehead State University has partnered with Kongsberg Satellite Services, known as KSAT, one of the leading companies for ground satellite tracking worldwide, to support missions to the moon and provide opportunities for students.

Partnership focuses on moon missions

MSU will use its dishes to help KSAT communicate with satellites and landers near the moon. The partnership comes as missions to the moon become more frequent in the next few years.

The university’s Space Science program gives students hands-on experience building, launching and monitoring satellites sent into space. Students do this using MSU’s satellite dishes, one of which is large enough to reach signals as far away as the moon.

Ben Malphrus, executive director of the Space Science Center at MSU, said the largest dish is primarily used for lunar mission support.

“You know the moon is the new high ground for national security and intelligence gathering,” Malphrus said. “And so our big dish is exactly the right size to do lunar mission support.”

Internships and workforce pipeline for students

Malphrus said KSAT is “the best in the world at what they do.”

“They are the dominant force in satellite ground station services worldwide, and so for them to come to us and want our graduates and to want us to provide services as part of their KSAT network, it really is pretty extraordinary,” Malphrus said. “It’s been one of the coolest things we’ve ever done.”

The partnership also creates a direct benefit to students in the program. Malphrus said part of KSAT’s interest was “to come here and create a pipeline from our student body through internships at KSAT into their workforce.”

University officials said the partnership opens the door for many MSU students as they enter the workforce and creates the opportunity for them to stay in Eastern Kentucky as the program continues to grow.