USU team launches four awards at NASA event
A group of Utah State University engineering students took home four awards out of seven at the NASA rocketry competition in Alabama April 19. The students received “Best Manufacturing and Quality Control,” “Most Innovative Payload Design,” “Best Design Documentation and Presentation” and “Best Team Spirit.”
The USU team has until May 12 to submit a final report that includes conclusions from its science experiment and the overall flight performance. The preliminary design review, critical design review and flight readiness review are conducted by panels of scientists and engineers from NASA and from NASA contactors and external partners. The overall winner of the competition will be announced Monday, May 26.
“The competition was a great experience because we got to interact with other universities and see what ideas they had for their rockets,” said John Parrish, a USU rocket team member.
Parrish said the drag device the USU team designed drew a lot of attention from NASA and the other teams involved in the competition.
“Our drag device was the only payload at the competition that would actually ensure that the rocket would reach a mile above ground level,” said Parrish. “NASA paid us a high complement with our reports, saying they were far above what they expected at a university level.”
The competition challenged students to design, build and fly a reusable rocket with a scientific payload to exactly one mile in altitude.
Alliant Techsystems (ATK) of Brigham City, Utah, sponsored the event hosted by the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama. This was the second year of the competition, and the winning school’s team will have the opportunity – courtesy of ATK Launch Systems and NASA – to see a space shuttle launch.
USU’s group decided to incorporate a unique air brake system on its rocket. As the required payload, the air brake system allowed the rocket to reach the required one mile altitude by deploying a drag device that slowed the descent of the rocket until it reached the desired position. The USU team was the only school who used this unique approach.
USU rocket team members include Dustin Braithwaite, Tyler DeSpain, Matthew Fifield, Jacob Haderlie, James Kelsey, Dennis Lazaga, Mike Lewis, Nathan Lodder, Bowen Masco, John Parrish, Jed Peters, Michael Phillips, Jeff St. Clair, David Winget and Shane Robinson.
Other teams who competed in the 2008 event were Auburn University in Auburn, Ala.; Alabama A&M University in Huntsville, Ala.; the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Ala.; Harding University in Searcy, Ark; Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, Mo.; the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, N.D.; Fisk University in Nashville, Tenn.; Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.; and the College of Menominee Nation in Green Bay, Wis.
For more information about NASA education programs, go to nasa.education.gov. The media can contact trina.patterson@atk.com for more information.
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