By Dr. Richard Schoephoerster
Space….the final frontier. Any true-blue Star Trek fan knows the source of those words, but, whether you are a Trekkie or not, everyone understands the spirit of their meaning. Frontier implies exceeding limits, moving into the unknown, with all of the excitement and thrill that comes with that. That excitement was palpable on the campus of American University of Sharjah (AUS) last week. Some of our alumni were on campus as the nanosatellite that they designed and constructed in collaboration with the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center (MBRSC), was launched into orbit. While there was certainly a roar of applause and a huge collective sigh of relief for each successive stage of the rocket launch, including the deployment of Nayif-1 into its orbit, the real moment of truth arrived when the first signals were received at the AUS ground station, because, for our former students and the MBRSC staff, that was the ultimate measure of achievement for this collaborative enterprise.
