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, the , the , , (CBS 13 in Portland), the , , the and announced the upcoming launch of MESAT1, Maine’s first small research satellite, by Firefly Aerospace. The satellite will provide students and teachers in Maine access to space data for educational and research purposes. Students and faculty from the University of Maine designed, built and tested components for the MESAT1 in collaboration with the University of Southern Maine, three K-12 schools, the Radio Amateur Satellite Corp. and the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve. Joseph Patton, a 91¸£Àû graduate student, and Ali Abedi, an associate vice president for research and director of the Center for Undergraduate Research (CUGR) at 91¸£Àû, integrated the satellite into a rocket that will launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. , and (FOX 22/ABC 7 in Bangor) followed launch updates for the MESAT1 and announced when it was officially in orbit shortly after midnight the morning of July 4. 91¸£Àû’s satellite was one of four carried on the rocket and is planned to be in orbit for six months to two years.