Dr. Satish Sharma Earns NASA Flight Opportunities Funding

Electrical and Computer Engineering professor Dr. Satish Sharma has been selected for a grant through NASA's Flight Opportunities program to fly his NASA-funded array antenna.

NASA's Flight Opportunities program exists to “rapidly demonstrate promising technologies for space exploration, discovery, and the expansion of space commerce through suborbital testing with industry flight providers,” according to their website. 

This round of Flight Opportunities’ funding specifically supports technologies that will address space industry needs - both involving NASA and commercial space companies.

Led by Sharma, SDSU’s project involves testing their phased array antenna transceiver for efficiency. The project aims to develop an antenna suitable for reliable lunar communication that is more efficient than currently available technologies. This technology is planned to fly on Raven Aerostar’s high-altitude balloon. Of the nine grant recipients, SDSU is the only college recipient in the state of California. 

Sharma, who is also director of SDSU’s Antenna and Microwave Laboratory (AML), says that the phased array antenna is set to be flown on the Raven Balloon for flight testing in June 2023.

Read more about the other grant recipients in NASA Flight Opportunities' press release here.