STEPHENVILLE (April 18, 2016 ) — For the second year in a row, Tarleton State University’s Aeronautical Team is a winner in the NASA-sponsored Student Launch Centennial Challenge competition, returning to campus with a $10,000 cash prize following its successful rocket launch Saturday, April 16, near Huntsville, Ala.
The team brought home third place for successful completion of this year’s design-build-launch competition that highlighted NASA’s Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV)—the rocket affiliated with a proposed Mars Sample Return lander mission.
The Cornell University Rocketry Team won this year’s competition, earning $25,000. Nearly 50 high school, college and university teams from 22 states competed at the 16th annual Student Launch competition and second annual MAV Challenge.
“This year’s team effort was amazing and the students’ research really blew NASA away. All of Tarleton should be proud, they have really put the university on the map,” said Dr. Bowen Brawner, team mentor and associate professor of mathematics. “Their dedication and talent continues to amaze me. They have beaten the top aerospace programs in the world again!”
For more than a decade, NASA has welcomed some two dozen teams from across the U.S. to design, build and launch their custom vehicles in a competitive environment. Teams get eight months, from September to April, to design and build a Space Launch System (SLS) that mimics the NASA engineering design lifecycle. Participants gain critical insights and practice in the rapidly expanding field of space exploration.
This year’s challenge required team rockets to carry a payload to an altitude of 5,280 feet above ground level and reach a specified height with a single-engine stage. The team was instructed to design a SLS that could retrieve and insert a payload into the rocket, rotate the vehicle to a vertical position and launch autonomously. NASA limited teams to a total budget of $7,500 for all parts.
After a competitive proposal selection process, teams participated in a series of design reviews submitted to NASA via team-developed websites. Tarleton’s Aeronautical Team then completed a Preliminary Design Review, Critical Design Review, Flight Readiness Review and Launch Readiness Review that included a safety briefing.
The team analyzed payload and flight data during a Post Launch Assessment Review. In addition, Tarleton team members were required to successfully complete an initial and a final Launch Readiness Review that included a safety inspection prior to take-off.
The Tarleton Aeronautical Team is comprised of comprised of eight undergraduate students from various academic disciplines.
Others competing in the NASA Centennial Challenge included teams from Cal State Polytechnic, Cornell, U.S. Naval Academy, Louisville, Arkansas, Illinois, North Carolina, Iowa State, California State-Long Beach, Florida International, North Dakota, Georgia Institute of Technology, South Florida, Northwestern (Evanston, Ill.), Central Florida, Saint Louis and Iowa.
“The students developed a winning autonomous robotics system last year and several teams this year modelled a system of our last year’s design,” said Brawner. “NASA was amazed that our students raised the bar again with a completely new robotics system design that ran on Bluetooth and linear actuators.”
Brawner explained that this year’s mission was a challenge centered on NASA’s Mars Mission Directorate. “You expect it to be tough with NASA. After all, it is rocket science. But, our Tarleton students really thrive on that challenge. They believe the harder it is, the better.
“What they accomplished this year becomes all the more amazing when you get to the Marshall Space Flight Center and you see how many schools cratered under the pressure. Steve Merwin, the lead faculty mentor this year, set high expectations and the students rose even higher. The team proved once again that Tarleton students can compete and win against the very best in the country. They make me proud to be a Texan.”
2015-2016 Tarleton Aeronautical Team members and their majors are:
• Jordan Doornek: Team Lead – Sophomore, Electrical Engineering
• Grant Gregory: AGSE Lead – Sophomore, Mechanical Engineering Technology
• Colby LaRue: Programming Lead – Junior, Computer Science and Physics
• Andrew Olbrich: Recovery Lead – Sophomore, Mechanical Engineering
• Mark Mosby: Safety Officer – Junior, Computer Science
• Corbin Loewe: Technical Writer – Senior, English
• Taylor Hamilton: Technical Writer – Senior, English
• Kaitlin Sullivan: Technical Writer – Senior, English
• Steve Merwin: Lead Faculty Mentor & Mathematics Instructor
• Dr. Bowen Brawner: Mathematics Department Head, Faculty Mentor
• Dr. Cynthia McPherson: Technical Writing Faculty Mentor
• Pat Gordzelick: National Association of Rocketry, Mentor
About Tarleton Aeronautical Team:
The Tarleton Aeronautical Team was founded in the fall of 2011 to compete in the NASA CANSAT International Competition. Since then, the team has participated in a NASA-based competition every year, taking second place in 2015. NASA SL Projects is a university-based competition where students spend eight months designing and building a high-power rocket that will carry a scientific or engineering payload to a specified altitude. Along with engineering a rocket, the students also have to design a website, create a budget, write design reviews and perform educational engagement.
About NASA’s University Student Launch Initiative (USLI):
The NASA Student Launch is a research-based, competitive and experiential exploration project that provides relevant and cost-effective research and development to support the Space Launch System (SLS). The project involves reaching a broad audience of colleges and universities across the nation in an eight-month commitment to design, build and fly payloads or vehicle components that support SLS.
Based on research needs, these payloads and components fly on high-power rockets to an altitude determined by the range safety officer and the team. Supported by the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate and U.S. aerospace industry, NASA Student Launch is a NASA-conducted engineering design challenge to provide resources and experiences for students and faculty. The project is built around a NASA mission, not textbook knowledge.
Research and investigation topics are conceived by the SLS Program Office in collaboration with SLS industry partners. Payloads developed by teams address research needs of different subsystems on the SLS. The teams share the research results, which will be used in future design and development of SLS and other projects.
Though bragging rights and prizes are on the line, everyone wins at this real-world challenge. Students apply their day-to-day classroom content into authentic projects and results. Their successes today will parlay into impressive resume highlights as they pursue their goals of working in engineering and aerospace industries.
Student Launch is managed by Marshall’s Academic Affairs Office with funding, leadership and management provided by NASA’s Office of Education, NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, and Orbital ATK. The Centennial Challenges program is managed at Marshall Space Flight Center and is supported by the Space Technology Mission Directorate.
To learn more about the Tarleton Aeronautics Team, visit www.tsuaeronautics.org. For more information about NASA’s Student Launch, see www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/studentlaunch.
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