Satellite project takes off

PERKINS TWP. — Perkins Schools reached new heights over the weekend. The high school's robotics club dedicated years to constructing its satellite, Foras Promineo, which translates to "Outreach" in Latin. Their hard work — put in by club members, volunteers and adviser John Stout — finally paid off on Sunday as they watched the satellite launch into space. The satellite was launched on a SpaceX shuttle from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and is en route to the International Space Station. Perkins Schools and SpaceX posted videos of the launch. In 2021, Perkins High School's robotics team submitted a proposal to NASA for a project it wanted to complete. The project is an educational game of manipulating objects in space using a mechanical arm attached to the satellite. To make the game and satellite come to life, students also built and designed a ground station to communicate with the orbiting object. The ground station is on Perkins Schools' property and can be seen on the south side of the high school. Once the satellite is in orbit, anyone from around the world can take part in Perkins' project. Perkins Schools was one of 11 educational institutions to have its project selected by NASA. It was also the only high school to be able to say it made the cut. The other winners hailed from prestigious universities like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.