ORONO, Maine (WABI) – In the early hours of Monday Morning Firefly Aerospace is set to launch a rocket into orbit.

And it’s bringing a satellite, known as a CubeSat, that was built by students at the University of Maine.

“I think it’s exciting that the first time at the university level that we have folks like Ali and his students that developed CubeSats and they’re gonna launch them. We have had other examples at the K-12 level that have worked with organizations that we supported outside of the state to help students prepare CubeSats but this is the first case where we had actually developed a CubeSat from scratch,” said Terry Shehata the Executive Director of the Maine Space Grant Consortium.

The satellite called MESAT1 is carrying three payloads that were designed by middle and high school students to record data for studying climate change.

“The cool thing about this project is that the scientists are actually high school students and teachers. In 2019 we ran a competition statewide and 11 schools submitted proposals. We selected three and those are the science missions that were defined by the students. These missions include monitoring water bodies for harmful algal blooms, trying to find urban energy islands by monitoring albedo, and also they are looking into turbidity of water concentration of phytoplankton,” said Doctor Ali Abedi, a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Maine.

Dr. Abedi says that he hopes this kind of work can help inspire students.

“I think if you ask someone to learn something without telling them why they’re not motivated. You can ask somebody to just learn math in abstract way without telling them why that’s useful. I think this project helps the students understand what they want to do and what the impact is. And then they came back and said oh, if I want to do this, I now need to learn physics. I need to learn this course of math, I need to learn like aerospace. I think the motivation and enthusiasm that was instigated by this project to this level definitely priceless,” said Dr. Abedi.

A livestream of the launch can be found here.

Copyright 2024 WABI. All rights reserved.

Maine’s 360-thousand anglers could see new fishing regulations in January designed to protect some fish populations and control others.

Department spokesman Mark Latti says the state’s biologists monitor fish populations in Maine’s lakes, ponds and rivers and recommend action based on what they find.

“These regulations are a yearly maintenance where we look at different waters and make changes to ensure we have healthy fish populations throughout the state,” Latti said.

Latti says Maine’s native Brook Trout is one species that needs better protection.

“Maine is fortunate in that we have a thriving native brook trout population, but with climate change and development and other impacts, we need to do all that we can to protect our native brook trout populations,” he said.

Latti says other species addressed by the proposed changes include lake whitefish and landlocked salmon.

A public hearing on the new regulations will be held Monday, July 15 at Inland, Fisheries and Wildlife headquarters in Augusta.

If approved by the Commissioner’s Advisory Council the changes will go into effect in January.

Assistant Extension Professor Jaime Garzon, center, explaining some details about the morphology of some grasses to the attendees of a pasture walk held last year in Franklin County. He explained that so the participants knew how to recognize what species of forages were growing in their fields. UMaine Cooperative Extension photo

ORONO — University of Maine Cooperative Extension welcomes local farmers, service providers, and Ag stakeholders to participate in the 2024 Maine Pasture Walk Series.

Five events, all of which will start at 11 a.m., will be held on the following days and farms:

The Milkhouse, 445 South Monmouth Road in Monmouth, on July 10.
Springside Farm, 577 Anson Valley Road in New Vineyard, on July 23.
Faithful Venture Farm, 17 Borough Road in Searsmont, on Aug. 6.
The Wolfe’s Neck Center, 184 Burnett Road in Freeport, on Aug. 13.
Grace Pond Farm, 530 Main Street in Thomaston, on Aug. 20.

Attendees can learn about dairy production systems, pasture management, forage species identification, climate-smart practices, regenerative grazing, and more from forage producers and Assistant Extension Professor Jaime Garzon, according to a news release from Garzon.

The 2024 Maine Pasture Walk Series is open and free for all participants. Visit the event webpage at extension.umaine.edu for more information and registration. To request a reasonable accommodation, contact Melissa Babcock at 207-581-2788 or melissa.libby1@maine.edu.

Check out other upcoming area events!

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