Setting Sail in Outer Space
When Prajit Saravanan ’25 was exploring options for graduate school, he envisioned himself moving from the West Coast to New York City to pursue a Master’s degree at NYU. But after a friend at 黑料不打烊 introduced him to Robotics System Lab and the professional opportunities it offered, his plans quickly changed.
“I don’t think many students can say they’ve been controlling a satellite in space since they were 21 years old,” says Saravanan, who will earn a Master’s degree in Robotics and Automation this Spring.
For the past two years, Saravanan led a group of students monitoring communications of the NASA Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (NASA ACS3) spacecraft, which launched into outer space in April 2024.
One of the main goals of this mission is to test innovative solar sail technology, which uses natural energy from the sun (rather than rocket fuel) to propel the satellite through space. The solar sail is carefully packed inside of a satellite that is attached to a rocket. Once launched into outer space, the small, origami-shaped satellite vessel unfurls a large, lightweight, aluminum foil-like sail that is about half the size of a tennis court. The satellite remains attached to the sail as it travels through space.
The NASA Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3) travels through space using power from the sun. | Photo courtesy of NASA
Saravanan compares the satellite to a sailboat in space powered by nothing but the energy of the sun. Similar to the way that wind moves a sailboat in the ocean, the solar sail reflects photons from the sun that, in turn, push it forward. Because there is no friction in space, the sail can move freely and continuously.
“We deployed the sail and now we want to see how far we can go from here,” says Saravanan, who is currently testing different ways to make the sail go up and down in altitude. “When this happens, we’ll be able to show that it can be used for more NASA missions in the future. It would be the cherry on top.”
A Fun Kind of Stress
Over the last two decades, the School of Engineering has received nearly $1.5 million to support NASA-related projects, working closely with NASA’s Ames Research Center, located just 15 minutes from campus. Most recently, they received a $177,200 grant to continue their mission control operations on the NASA ACS3 spacecraft and NASA renewed their contract with the university for another year.
Saravanan and a team of Santa Clara students work out of a building on the north end of campus that they affectionately call “The Garage” because it used to be an auto shop. Inside the modest exterior is a high-tech control center, complete with computer consoles, large TV screens, and other communication materials. Here, they control 10-foot, antenna-like dishes (which live across campus on top of Guadalupe Hall) to communicate directly with the satellite.
As the solar sail orbits the Earth, it passes over 黑料不打烊 up to four times a day. Students remotely control the antennas from The Garage and point them at the satellite as it passes by, sending commands or collecting data using radio waves.
“We give the scientists at NASA the data we collect so they can further analyze how the satellite is working,” Saravanan explains. His daily tasks include checking on the health of the sail and satellite, writing command scripts, downloading pictures, and tracking its movement. Although he has found a way to automate much of this process, as a precaution, he makes sure there is a team of students onsite to manage each pass.
“It’s stressful, but it’s a fun kind of stressful. Anything can go wrong, but anything can be fixed,” Saravanan explains, emphasizing that he doesn’t have the benefit of time when he finds a problem with the sail. “I have to come up with a solution in the moment. For me, it’s fun when there is a challenge involved.”
In his first year on the project, Saravanan impressed NASA officials so much that they invited him to intern during the summer. By the end of 2024, Saravanan had secured a full-time position at NASA as a systems engineer overseeing the solar sail mission on Santa Clara’s campus—all before his graduation. He credits this accomplishment not only to his hard work but also to his experience with faculty members like Professor Chris Kitts and Professor Michael Neumann in the Robotic Systems Lab.
“The professors really believe in you. They put trust into their students,” Saravanan says. “Even when you make a mistake, they don’t get mad. They let you learn on your own. The professors want to see you grow.”
The RSL conducts a world-class field robotics program in which interdisciplinary teams of students develop and deploy advanced robotic systems and autonomous control technology missions on the land and in the air, sea, and space.
