Jacqueline O’ Connor, assistant professor of mechanical engineering; graduate students Meghan Borz, Wyatt Culler, Sam Hansford, and Anand Makwana; and undergraduate student Joe Crane discuss their research in the Reacting Flow Dynamics Laboratory.
The lab focuses on issues of reacting flows for energy and propulsion applications. High-speed laser diagnostics and other state-of-the-art experimental techniques are used in research areas such as combustion, hydrodynamic instability, and thermoacoustics.
During the week of March 22-27, I took part in the 2015 Caltech Space Challenge in Pasadena, CA, as a member of Team Explorer. We were challenged to design a mission to land humans on an asteroid brought back to lunar orbit, extract the asteroid’s resources, and demonstrate their use. By the end of the week, we had gone from being 16 strangers to a strong cohesive team with a robust and innovative design: Mission L-DORADO (Lunar – reDirected Orbiting Resource Asteroid Demonstration and Operation).
Being Team Explorer’s mission architect and working in the astrodynamics subsystem allowed me to continuously interact with everyone on the team. In a matter of a few days, we went from defining our mission objectives and mission requirements, to brainstorming activities to detailed subsystem design. We analyzed the trade space and eventually converged to a final design. In order to do so, we iterated and changed our baseline mission a few times making sure to assess the risks that the new design choices lead to, as well as mitigation strategies.
Throughout the week, we attended lectures in various space-related subjects and received mentoring from former Caltech students and engineers from aerospace industries such as NASA JPL, Lockheed Martin and SpaceX. Halfway through the week, Team Explorer worked with NASA JPL’s A-Team, a cross-functional multidisciplinary team of Subject-Matter Experts that helped us refine and improve our preliminary mission design.
It was a very intense, inspiring, and fun week that allowed me to work with some of the smartest students from all over the world and gave me the opportunity to network with the engineers and scientists that make space exploration a reality.
The knowledge in mission design and astrodynamics that I gained during the Caltech Space Challenge will also help me as a Teaching Assistant for aerospace engineering senior courses such as Spaceflight Dynamics (AERSP 450) and Spacecraft Design (AERSP 401A&B).
Meet Team Explorer!
Check out Team Explorer’s Final Presentation:
Davide Conte is a graduate student in aerospace engineering. He is the vice president of the Aerospace Graduate Student Association. A native of Genova, Italy, Davide plans to work on space missions that will push the boundary of human space exploration after he graduates.
On the evening of December 2, representatives of John Deere were nice enough to host a field day event where students had the opportunity to travel to a local facility and learn more about their business and products.
We were transported by charter bus to the Valley Ag and Turf location in Watsontown, PA, where we were introduced to several company representatives from a wide variety of offices and departments.
Melissa Consiglio tries out new equipment during a field day event hosted by John Deere representatives.
Although the weather was not the most ideal of conditions, more than a dozen employees were present to host the evening. They served us dinner and taught us about their new products and what was ahead for them in 2015.
After the presentation, we were given the opportunity to get a closer look at these state-of-the-art-machines. This included learning about their new lawnmower, which is completely automated and can give your lawn a complete trim without you even lifting a finger. We were also given the chance to drive in one of their largest tractors and operate the vehicle around their campus.
The employees were eager to learn about us and our future aspirations once we complete our degrees.
It was an awesome event and, as a student, I appreciated the opportunity to have an inside peek at a company’s facility and learn about the different opportunities they have for engineers.
Melissa Consiglio is a senior majoring in architectural engineering with a focus in construction management. The Robbinsville, NJ, native is involved in several Penn State organizations, including the Society of Women Engineers, the Women in Engineering Program, S:PACE, the Oriana Singers, and THON. Following graduation, she hopes to pursue a career in project management with a general contractor in the Washington, DC, area.
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