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Propelling Experiential Learning
UTSA’s NASA Student Launch team aims high
By Bruce Forey
A team of UTSA students has been selected by NASA to compete in a prestigious rocket-building competition. The NASA Student Launch is an eight-month challenge managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
UTSA was one of only 32 U.S. universities and colleges selected for the 2021 challenge.
Student Launch gives aspiring rocketeers a unique opportunity to follow the design process that NASA and industry engineers use when developing and operating new hardware. The student teams are required to design, build, test and fly a high-powered amateur rocket to an altitude of 3,500 to 5,500 feet.
This year the college/university division teams will tackle a new payload challenge. The rocket design will include a lander to be deployed during the rocket’s descent. This device must leave the rocket at an altitude of 500 to 1,000 feet above ground and then land, upright and level. But that’s not all: The lander must also take a 360-degree panoramic photo and transmit it to its team.
UTSA fielded a rocket team comprising mechanical engineering majors in 2019. This year UTSA’s NASA MIRO Center for Advanced Measurements in Extreme Environments (CAMEE) opened up the competition to a broader group. The first informational meeting had over 30 students. After learning more about the project and time commitments, that group shrunk to eight students, who are a mix of various majors from the colleges of Sciences and Engineering. They’re volunteers for this project and don’t receive a grade or credit hours for being part of the team.
“Most of them have no idea about this field. They just showed great enthusiasm about NASA and rocketry, and it’s very exciting to have them involved,” said Dr. Hongjie Xie, CAMEE director and professor and chair of the Department of Geological Sciences.
The team’s first challenge was developing a detailed project proposal in a short turnaround time that included their engineering design approach, timeline and budget. The Student Launch team will complete their mission on April 10.
With a busy college schedule, why sign up for a demanding extracurricular activity? For Student Launch team lead Dillon Emmele, this opportunity through UTSA is a great fit. Emmele also works full time, and the rocketry project gives him valuable hands-on experience without having to make the time commitment for a longer internship or research project.
“I was drawn because it puts the students in control of how we do things while still having full support from the university,” he said. “This project will help me learn how to lead a team more than I’m used to at work. Another huge benefit is it allows me to connect with the STEM community, which was difficult for me before. I even have a few contacts at NASA now.”
Xie is hopeful this experience will inspire the students to pursue STEM fields—science, technology, engineering and mathematics—in postgraduate studies or careers in the industry. “This project will open their eyes to the opportunities available to them and to possibly get involved with NASA,” Xie said.
In addition to Emmele, the Student Launch team is made up of Carolyn Alvarado, Kate Benoit, Evelyn Fernandez, Madeline Hickman, Jasmyn Johnson, Adolfo Santa Fe Duenas and Daniel Wood.
The faculty team includes Dr. Jaime Hincapie, lecturer and faculty adviser in the Department of Geological Sciences, and Dr. Christopher Combs, assistant professor of mechanical engineering. The team mentor is Don Cosgrove of the San Antonio Rocket Society. Both Hincapie and Cosgrove are certified in high-power rocketry by the Tripoli Rocketry Association.
The NASA Student Launch project is funded by NASA MIRO CAMEE, the College of Engineering Student Success Center and the College of Sciences Student Success Center.
UTSA’s NASA MIRO Center for Advanced Measurements in Extreme Environments (CAMEE) is a NASA-funded interdisciplinary center housed in the College of Sciences. CAMEE seeks to build a sustainable source of diverse, highly trained researchers who will enter the workforce in NASA’s fields of earth system sciences, remote sensing technologies, computational fluid dynamics, and experimental fluid mechanics. In addition to working with UTSA students, CAMEE hosts K-12 teacher workshops and runs an outreach program, with the goal of inspiring underrepresented minority students to pursue STEM careers.
