U of M team launches new Minnesota flag into space
Flags representing the United States, Minnesota and the University of Minnesota fly on a research module launched into space. (Courtesy of the University of Minnesota)
Minnesota’s new state flag can now add “astronaut” to its resume.
A mechanical engineering team at the University of Minnesota launched the banner into space on Wednesday along with a payload of research materials.
A photo shows the apparatus floating high above the Earth’s surface and flying the colors of the United States, Minnesota and the U of M.
Mechanical engineering professor Ognjen Ilic says his research team launched the payload carrying nanofabricated materials and instruments such as cameras, thermometers, GPS and altitude and pressure sensors.
Ilic’s team wanted to learn how materials fabricated at the Minnesota Nano Center behaved outside of Earth’s atmosphere — particularly how they reacted to radiation and cosmic rays.
Researchers launched the payload from Montgomery, Minn., on Wednesday morning and recovered it later in the day.