Members of the student organization American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics at San Diego State won second place in a national undergraduate space transportation design competition. The team received $1,500 from the AIAA Foundation; part of which will be distributed to the participants. Another portion will be given back to SDSU’s division of AIAA.
According to AIAA treasurer Ricardo Torres, the team consisted of 4 SDSU aerospace engineering students: former project leader Samantha Stoneman, who graduated and is currently in Germany participating in a graduate program in space development, current project leader and aerospace engineering senior Evan Johnson, project manager Jessee Cuevas and Tuan Luong, who completed the space team’s design specs and computer systems. Professor of aerospace engineering Dr. Nagy Nosseir served as faculty advisor for the team.
According to Johnson, the intended purpose of the project revolved around space exploration. The contest asked teams to design space transportation capable of sending paying passengers to orbit in a financially reasonable manner.
“The first missions would be to the moon or a near object,” Johnson said.
The awarded project, titled Hydrogen Oxygen Platform Experiment, holds a second utility. The team created a refueling station to be sent to orbit either Earth or Mars to assist exploration, according to Torres. The station would additionally be able to refuel satellites, space stations and space shuttles for farther space missions. Johnson said the fuel used would be liquid hydrogen with a liquid oxygen oxidizer, both of which are commonly used propellants for space shuttles.
According to the team’s model presentation, offering satellite companies the ability to double or potentially triple the lifespans of their parts could be the beginning of a profitable business.
The students won the award last fall at the 2010-2011 competition titled Undergraduate Student Space The project was finalized in June of last year after six months of work.
“When you first start these types of projects, most people are (likely) to get bewildered, scared,” Johnson said. “But it really helps you get into the groove of things and you get used to making these sorts of engineering decisions.”
