Delaware State University optics expert gets $728,000 NASA grant

A Delaware State University professor has been awarded a $728,000 grant from NASA to develop new technology to measure the earth's magnetic field.

Cris Barrish

October 17, 2017

Professor Renu Tripathi of Delaware State University's Optical Science Center for Applied Research (OSCAR) has been awarded a $728,000 NASA grant to develop a laser-based remote magnetometer. (Delaware State University)

A Delaware State University professor has been awarded a $728,000 grant from NASA to develop new technology to measure the earth’s magnetic field for possible use in satellite missions.

Renu Tripathi, professor of physics and engineering at the Dover school’s Optical Science Center for Applied Research, will use the money to conduct space-based research through the NASA initiative known as the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).

The research, which will be conducted from 2018 through 2020, will be aimed at creating a a new laser-based remote magnetometer for measuring the magnetic field at mesospheric altitude (31 to 50 miles above the surface of the earth).

Tripathi and co-principal investigator Gour Pati will collaborate on field tests with a team from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

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