A class of engineering students in Huntsville, Ala., will not be taking a conventional final exam in their class this semester. Instead, the students will be working with NASA to determine the specifications necessary for space shuttle flight and build and launch their own shuttles.
The program, Student Launch Initiative, was designed and initiated by Art Stephenson, the director of the Marshall Space Flight Program. The program allowed the students to design, build and test their own rockets and determine the maximum scientific cargo load carried by the craft. The students hope to launch the rocket and have it soar more than two miles high.
“As NASA’s lead center for space transportation and microgravity science, it makes sense for the Marshall Center to get our community involved in the excitement of launching space vehicles with microgravity science payloads,” Stephenson said. “Government and industry must make a strong effort to develop our workforce of tomorrow. Conversations with local educators tell me this is the type of hands-on experience our students want.”
SLI began last year because there was a lack of engineering students and rocket scientists in colleges. It is sponsored by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. Stephenson said building and launching rockets is a way to encourage students to choose engineering or science careers.
Patrick Farrell, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the College of Engineering at UW-Madison attributes the relatively low numbers of engineering students to a lack of knowledge about the major.
“Engineering is not a high-visibility profession, and many students know very little about the topic,” Farrell said. “Some come to college and find that it isn’t exactly what they wanted to do with their strong math and science background.”
Originally, the program was limited to only groups of high-school students, but is now available at the University of Alabama-Huntsville and Alabama A&M University.
Students were chosen after NASA sent a request for proposals to different schools in Madison County, Ala. NASA chose from the schools that responded, and the individual schools were responsible for selecting students. Some schools chose to integrate the project into the curriculum, while others made it an extracurricular activity.
Students will use a hybrid motor with a rocket that carries a protein crystal cargo and attempt to have it travel two miles, rather than the one-mile goal set by the high school teams.
Shane Smith, a junior mechanical engineering major at University of Alabama-Huntsville and a member of the school’s Student Launch Initiative Team said the project fostered cooperation.
“This project has taught me to work on a team,” Smith said. “You have to learn to trust the other members to do their job. But the best part is knowing that our rocket will fly.”
One of the major goals of the program is not to only launch rockets and learn around science but also to expose students to the aspects that science-related majors have to offer.
SLI allows students to go beyond the classroom and gain hands on experience in the field of science.
“We recognize that the best way to get young people excited about rockets, space and microgravity research is through hands-on programs,” Stephenson said. “We need students who think originally and without rote to come and be creative and get answers for the future. That’s the kind of workforce that we want to see coming into NASA and really making a difference.”
The next college launch is scheduled for Dec. 1.