On Feb. 22, 2024, students, faculty and staff watched as Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C class lunar lander, named Odysseus, touched down on the moon. After years of design and development, EagleCam — the student-built miniature camera system housed within a CubeSat — had finally landed. But the team’s work was not done yet.
As the lunar lander began its final descent onto the moon, the plan was for EagleCam to spring into action, ejecting from the spacecraft before touchdown to snap photos of Odysseus as it settled onto the lunar surface. After complications forced EagleCam to shut down during landing, preventing the ejection mechanism from triggering, the EagleCam team had to pivot. For days, they worked tirelessly to adapt their mission plans and procedures in order to deploy its camera system. On Feb. 28, EagleCam was ultimately reactivated and ejected, landing about four meters away from the lunar lander. However, EagleCam could not return an image because Odysseus tipped over after landing. “This was an incredibly ambitious project, from start to finish,” said Dr. Troy Henderson, director of Embry‑Riddle’s Space Technologies Laboratory (STL), where EagleCam was dreamed up and built from scratch. “I couldn’t be more proud of what these students accomplished.” In addition to Henderson, faculty members working on the EagleCam project have included Dr. Eduardo Rojas-Nastrucci, associate professor in the Department of Electrical
Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) and director of the Wireless Devices and Electromagnetics Laboratory; Dr. M. Ilhan Akbas, associate professor in EECS; and Dr. Jennifer Smith, professor in Aerospace Engineering, as well as more than two dozen undergraduate and graduate students. “Being able to say that this team came out of the classroom, applied what they’ve been learning in a whole variety of ways and were able to successfully complete this project and deliver it, that in and of itself is a great thing,” Henderson added. Nor is EagleCam the only hardware students delivered in 2024. In Sept., the team watched as LLAMAS, for Literally Looking at More Astronauts in Space, launched as part of the Polaris Dawn mission. The LLAMAS camera unit was the first piece of hardware not built by SpaceX to be mounted inside a Dragon capsule. The all-commercial Polaris Dawn crew utilized the camera to record crew activities, offering an inside look at this historic mission.
I’m deeply impressed by the innovation, dedication and creativity of the STL team. The students and faculty have accomplished great feats, and we’re extremely proud of all that they have learned, experienced, developed and achieved.”
Dr. Jim Gregory Dean, College of Engineering
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