NASA Ames & San Jose State students cheer on satellite launch

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- Several San Jose State students were feeling "out of this world" this morning.

Their joint project with NASA is now floating in space.

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Students, professors and scientists from NASA Ames cheered from San Jose State's Student Union, watching the Technology Education Satellite 8, or TechEdSat 8, being deployed into space from the International Space Station.

They knew this day was coming after their satellite was taken to the International Space Station on "Space X 16" back on December 5th.

This is a partnership between NASA Ames and San Jose State.

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TechEdSat 8contains multiple communications platforms and a virtual reality experiment.

Brothers and San Jose State aerospace engineering students, Roberto and Jesus Rosila, worked on the VR project.

"I think it's a huge honor that both siblings from a first generation family put something in space with the support of like our staff, and faculty and Ames," said older brother and masters student Roberto Rosila.

San Jose State grad student Zach Hughes developed the exo-brake.

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It's a parachute like device that is deployed on the satellite after it leaves the International Space Station.

"So we're developing a way to launch satellites or launch payloads out of the International Space Station, out of the ISS and quickly and cheaply come back to earth without the need of a rocket," said Hughes.

Marcus Murbach is an adjunct professor at San Jose State and also a researcher at NASA Ames.

He helped start this program more than 7 years ago, a partnership that's launching satellites and careers.

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Murbach added, "It's wonderful to work with them. We have a really bright generation coming up and I'm really proud to be part of that."

This satellite is expected to burn up in the atmosphere, but that's part of the testing.

More satellites are in the works in the future and Murbach says they continue to get more efficient.

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