News

The University of Massachusetts at Lowell (UMass Lowell) has received a .5 million grant from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Innovation Institute at the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative. The grant aims to establish a new hub at UMass Lowell called the Massachusetts Alliance for Space & Technology & Sciences (MASTS). MASTS will provide a one-stop support system for researchers and businesses working on the design, build, and testing of small satellites and spacecraft components.

UMass Lowell’s Lowell Center for Space Science and Technology (LoCSST) will serve as the base for MASTS. LoCSST has previously launched successful space missions, including the student-built SPACE HAUC satellite and the PICTURE-C planet-finding telescope.

The grant will support a two-year project and will be supplemented by matching funds and services from external partners and collaborators. The total funding for the consortium is expected to exceed million.

The MASTS consortium currently includes 22 organizations, including universities, community colleges, aerospace and defense companies, as well as research-focused nonprofits. Some of the partners involved are UMass Boston, MIT Haystack Observatory, Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems, and MIT Lincoln Laboratory.

The establishment of MASTS is seen as an exciting development by Supriya Chakrabarti, the director of LoCSST. She believes that MASTS will become a center for nanosatellite activities, particularly for CubeSats, in Massachusetts.

The post UMass Lowell Receives .5 Million Grant to Develop Space Technology Hub appeared first on satProviders.