Blast off
USU aerospace engineering students were given a $5,000 award by Alliant Techsystems (ATK) Thursday morning, for a rocket competition they won in April. That same afternoon, the students were able to witness a full-scale test of a heavy-launch rocket at the ATK facility.
USU engineering students worked all of last year creating a new rocket design to compete in University Student Launch Initiative, a NASA design competition, in Huntsville, Ala. The first design they created was destroyed in a test, and the engineering students had to rebuild their rocket from scratch in one week.
They said their week payed off. They defeated all of the competition, securing first prize for USU.
“We beat ‘em all,” said Jamie Wilson, a graduate student of aerospace engineering. “MIT, community colleges, University of Florida, Vanderbilt — there were about 40 schools from across the nation.”
As part of their project, the USU engineering students had to do more than just build a rocket; they presented to NASA, wrote reports, proposals, applied for funding and traveled to elementary, middle and high schools around Cache Valley to get students excited about engineering and science. The year-long project was coordinated by Dr. Tony Whitmore, a USU professor, who said that was the third time USU has won first place in the NASA competition.
USU’s new rocket design, which successfully landed without damaging its payload, has enormous potential, said Nathan Madsen, a USU aerospace engineering student.
“Theoretically, a similar rocket could be used in space,” Madsen said.
“Although there have been budget cuts. There is definitely still a future in aerospace engineering,” Wilson said.
ATK employees seemed to agree. Harry Reed, the propulsion director for ATK, said, “Yes there have been budget cuts — ATK recently laid off over 100 workers — but space travel is far from over. The rocket being tested today is evidence of that. We are getting less money from the government, so it is a new challenging environment. It may be slow for a while, but we will definitely bounce back. We simply have to market space travel toward the private sector instead of the public sector.”
Charles J. Precourt, vice president and general manager of ATK aerospace systems group, agreed.
“Times like these only force us to be more streamlined.” Precourt, a veteran of four space flights and one of the lead designers of the new project, said.
The DM-3, the new design, is more efficient than any earlier rocket design, he said. The rocket has five segments instead of four and has the potential to take astronauts to Mars or even to asteroids, in the future. The DM-3 is a key component of the new Liberty Launch System, which is a new international, commercial space transportation business.
USU engineering students were not the only spectators at the testing site. ATK employees, Box Elder County locals, NASA officials, and Air Force and Army soldiers also showed up to observe the ignition of the DM-3.
At 2:05 p.m., the rocket blasted off. The spectators observed the flash, heard the deafening explosion and then were hit with a wave of heat. The sand at the exhaust end of the rocket was immediately turned to glass. The rocket burned for about two minutes with 3.6 million pounds of force. The 22 million-horsepower motor forced the rocket to vector back and forth, and vibrate in the frame. A shadow spread over the mountains as a cloud of smoke blocked the sun. USU engineering students and others broke into applause.
Shane Jacobsen, an information technology worker at ATK and an observer of the event, said, “The entire thing was amazing. Space travel is inspiring.”
Rebecca Stanley, a Box Elder County resident, said, “Before I heard about this rocket, I thought Obama had kind of killed the space program. Now I realize that I was wrong. It looks like we’re going need more astronauts and engineers.”
— evan.millsap@aggiemail.usu.edu