Guzik ACES Presentation

The Aerospace Catalyst Experiences for Students (ACES) Project: 

The Aerospace Catalyst Experiences for Students (ACES) Project Presentation to the Suborbital Center of Excellence Annual Student Conference by T. Gregory Guzik Louisiana State University 30 April 2003

Where did they get this guy from?: 

Where did they get this guy from? Ph.D. in Physics from University of Chicago in 1980 22 years experience with accelerator experiments, balloon payloads, cosmic rays, solar energetic particles, nuclear fragmentation, transport 8 years experience with education / public outreach Co-I ATIC (cosmic rays), MARGIE (x-rays) balloon experiments PI on teacher professional development, education technology, Project Lead on ACES Guzik was Team Leader during ATIC operations in Antarctica

The ACES Project: 

The ACES Project Goals include the following Attract new students to aerospace related programs Provide background on how to develop such programs Practical experience with sensors, electronics & systems Retain students in science by exciting their imagination Implement pilot version with NASA funding Test bed program concepts Use LSU expertise in scientific ballooning Build upon “Crawl, Walk, Run, Fly” program Work with LaSPACE affiliates to expand across the state

The ACES Basic Concept: 

The ACES Basic Concept Use a latex sounding balloon as the vehicle Up to 12 lbs payload without FAA waiver Altitude up to ~100,000 feet Develop skills not normally available in conventional classrooms Train students to use Project Life Cycle and Management

Programmatic Structure: 

Programmatic Structure Involve students from LSU and SU About 15 students organized in teams of 3-4 Must commit to 4 hours / week (will take attendance) Paid $6 / hours for up to 10 hours / week Weekly contact Tuesday & Thursday evening One or two 1 hr lectures and 3+ hrs of activities Talks on space environment, history, spacecraft design, project management & life cycle, technical aspects of high powered model rocket, radio telemetry & communication Activities include CricketSat, CanSat and BalloonSat End of year expedition to launch BalloonSat at NSBF & then to Houston for tour of Johnson Space Center

CricketSats Simulate Spacecraft Constellation: 

CricketSats Simulate Spacecraft Constellation Simple project to learn basic circuit building Uses 555 chip with thermistor to input a temperature dependent frequency to a UHF 434 MHz transmitter Every student built one device “Launched” our spacecraft constellation to investigate the temperature profile of alien landscape (i.e. nearby parking lot) Student collected measurements from each spacecraft and then plotted contours

BalloonSat Illustrates Project Management Techniques: 

BalloonSat Illustrates Project Management Techniques Students given budget & flight constraints & told to design a mission DESIGN DEVELOPMENT FABRICATION INTEGRATION TESTING OPERATION PDR CDR FRR Preliminary Design Review (PDR) with budget, schedule, & plan for how mission is to be achieved Concept Design Review (CDR) verifies prototypes & tracks progress Flight Readiness Review (FRR) just prior to launch

Students have worked hard: 

Students have worked hard Four teams are developing payloads TIC (infra-red), StuMURD (ultraviolet), Omega (Ozone), FRED (cosmic rays) All have prepared PDR, CDR documents and presentations Currently working on fabricating payload Groups fabricating payloads Programming the controller

The FRED Experiment: 

The FRED Experiment Team members: Travis Halphen Ryan Fontenot Lisa Mathiak Measure the flux of cosmic radiation as a function of altitude Weight: ~440 grams Power: ~430 mW

The StuMURD Experiment: 

The StuMURD Experiment Team members: Lane Johnson Daniel Rodriguez-Hart Matt Landry Aimee Verette Measure transmission of UV-B radiation through atmosphere as function of altitude Weight: ~620 grams Power: ~310 mW

The OMEGA Experiment: 

The OMEGA Experiment Team members: Alexandra Salgado Shaun Besse Lizzabeth Ponce Measure concentration of ozone in atmosphere as a function of altitude Weight: ~960 grams Power: ~1,175 mW

The TIC Experiment: 

The TIC Experiment Team members: Jarrod Marsh Hallie Baer Koren Smith Study infra-red and temperature as function of altitude plus include an imaging camera Weight: ~250 grams Power: ~100 mW

Launch in a few weeks: 

Launch in a few weeks Flight Readiness Review on May 8 Arrive at NSBF on May 19 Early morning launch May 20 Prepare payloads and launch ~8am Follow balloon in vehicles using GPS beacon Recover payload and return to NSBF to download and analyze data Backup launch on May 21 or tour NSBF and possibly Raven facility Tour Johnson Space Center on May 22 Return to Baton Rouge on May 23

Future Plans: 

Future Plans A few students will continue to work over the summer developing a publication of their project Develop plans for expanding ACES across Louisiana Propose to NASA to continue ACES next year Eventually formalize ACES as a “capstone” course in Physics & Astronomy. Work with the Suborbital Center of Excellence and NSBF to develop a platform for flight testing student built satellites