Oct. 17, 2015
If a NASA Armstrong concept for a Mars airplane takes flight, it will be in part thanks to groups of college and university students working on it.
Some of those students spoke Friday, Oct. 16, about their experiences at an event at the Aerospace Education Research and Operations (AERO) Institute in Palmdale, California. The NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center's Office of Education, the AERO Institute and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) sponsored the event.
Students were asked this past summer to use the skills they learned in school and apply those to research challenges associated with the Preliminary Research Aerodynamic Design to Land on Mars, or Prandtl-M aircraft. If the project is ultimately successful, it could collect and transmit valuable information about future landing sites for human exploration.
The two student programs tapped for the work included the NASA Flight Scholars, which focuses on giving community college students an early opportunity to perform research and the Education Small Unmanned Aerial Systems Center of Excellence, which provides college and university students an opportunity to work on NASA Unmanned Aerial Systems projects. Both were funded mostly under the Minority University Research and Education Program that focuses on enhancing capabilities of minority-serving institutions.
Before the students spoke about their experiences, Al Bowers, NASA Armstrong's chief scientist and Prandtl-M project manager, spoke about the aircraft. Details also were given about how students can apply for future summer internships.
The prospects for the virtual event originated with an idea from Peggy Hayes based on a request from AIAA that she then asked NASA Armstrong summer student intern Ben Cobleigh to enhance and develop. Hayes is NASA Armstrong's deputy chief systems engineer for the UAS Integration in the NAS and a member of the AIAA board of directors as deputy director of the Aerospace Sciences group.
Cobleigh spent about six weeks working out the event details, presented his work, gained approval to submit the proposal to AIAA and the organization formally awarded funds for it in September.
"I’ve been working the event with NASA Armstrong Education Office Director Karla Shy and the AERO Institute since Ben went back to school," Hayes said. Cobleigh returned as the master of ceremonies for the event.
"The partnership of the AERO Institute with AIAA through AIAA’s Virtual Product Innovation Initiative to host ‘The Mars Airplane’ live event has been a great opportunity for everyone involved," Hayes said.
"The event showcased student involvement with the project and gives other students and young professionals a chance to learn about internships available at NASA Armstrong," she said. "The event also provided the in-person attendees an opportunity for networking with like-minded aeronautics enthusiasts and colleagues through the AIAA professional organization."
Image:
(Left) Robert "Red" Red Jensen and William Morris, in the center from left, install a high-speed camera on the Carbon Cub.
(Right) This illustration shows what a Prandtl-M might look like flying above the surface of Mars.