WPI and NASA Let Students Take the Reigns at Goddard Space Flight Center
Many engineers and scientists
would consider working for NASA the career opportunity of a lifetime. Thanks
to a long running partnership between NASA and Worcester Polytechnic Institute
(WPI), many WPI students will get that opportunity before they even receive
their bachelors degree. Over the past six years the Goddard Space Flight
Center has served as a hands-on training ground for more than 100 WPI students
to work on real-world projects at NASA.
The most recent group of Goddard projects are near completion and WPI
undergrads will be giving their final oral presentations on Tuesday, October 8
at the Goddard Visitor Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Fred J. Looft, professor
of electrical and computer engineering and director and founder of the WPI
Program at the Goddard Space Flight Center, recently advised nine student
teams at the Center. The program gives students the chance to present
solutions to complex problems on topics ranging from spacecraft model
development to x-ray telescope design.
“The Goddard Center gives students applied engineering experience that
can’t be taught in a classroom. All of the students who participate in the
program not only learn a great deal, but are much better prepared when the
become a part of the workforce,” said Looft. “We’ve had great success in our
partnership with NASA and plan on expanding the program in the years to come.”
The Goddard Space Flight Center isn’t just a great opportunity for
undergraduates. It exposes the students to the same issues NASA’s top
engineers face everyday. NASA recognizes the value of WPI’s hands-on approach
to education and many WPI students end up working at NASA following
graduation.
“The work WPI students do at NASA isn’t the back-burner kind,” says Alda
D. Simpson, Associate Director of the Applied Engineering and Technology
Directorate at the Goddard Space Flight Center. “It’s research that’s integral
for current NASA initiatives, and gives WPI students practical experience only
found on the job. That makes them better candidates when they graduate.”
Here are the most recent WPI-NASA projects, conducted by students aiming
for the stars:
- Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Falconsat – Spacecraft Model Development
- Students will develop a detailed and complete model of the ST-5 Spacecraft
using Matlab/Simulink and based on work started at the USAF Academy. One of
the main functions of this model will be to ensure that the satellite’s power
margin will be sufficient at all points in the orbit. The model will be used
to verify the operational scenarios and, if beneficial, may become a mission
operation center tool.
This is the third year of a program to convert Landsat 7 image processing
algorithms written in the C programming language, into re-configurable code
(VHDL Algorithms) that can be downloaded into programmable hardware. The
reason for doing this are, first, the hardware algorithms run about 20x faster
than the C code and, second, the costs associated with re-configurable
computing platforms are significantly lower than those for full custom
systems.
GRIT is a tool for studying radio interferometry techniques using a
hardware implementation in the lab. The students on this project team will
write software to control the positioner, implement and test data acquisition
software, test and characterize the X-band receivers, and write signal
processing software (in Matlab).
The students on this team will implement a modular integer DSP system that
can be used to align and then process data from the Leviton encoder. Tasks
include implementing a modular signal processing system), implementing a RS170
TV standard output channel, redesigning the associated analog electronics to
improve switching speeds, and testing and calibrating the final system.
- Technical Communications
- History of Solar Cell Development
- The purpose of this project is to write a history of spacecraft solar
cells, including key individuals and technical developments. Specific
interests include identifying funding sources and programs that resulted in
the dramatic increases in solar cell efficiencies. Outcomes of this project
will include a paper presented at a Solar Cell conference, and a poster
session at a second NASA conference.
- Mechanical / Aerospace Engineering
- Soft X-Ray Telescope Design
- The goal of this student project team is to design and analyze an overall
composite structure (OCS) for the Spectroscopy X-ray Telescope (SXT) of the
Constellation-X telescopes. The primary task includes performing a trade study
on the current proposed SXT to determine its most feasible design.
The purpose of this project is to generate and analyze the performance
curves for two micro-scale electro hydrodynamic (EHD) pumps. This goal will be
achieved through detailed laboratory experiments, construction of the
necessary systems and experimental equipment, data collection and analysis
using LabView, and appropriate background research.
The student team will explore orbit designs for multiple spacecraft which
meet either a given set of virtual aperture metrics or which give rise to new
and interesting metrics for formations that may enable new earth-orbiting
distributed spacecraft science mission concepts.
- Computer Science
- Autonomous Nano Technology Swarm (ANTS): I and II – D. Brown
- The specific goal for these two project teams is to develop a framework
into which low level Artificial Intelligence for simulated ANTS satellites can
be embedded. The simulation program will model two satellites and an asteroid.
It will be the tasks of the two satellites to work together to obtain a high
quality X-ray spectrum of the asteroid and transfer that data to a data
repository.
About WPI
Founded in 1865, WPI was a pioneer in technological higher education.
Early on, it developed an influential curriculum that balanced theory and
practice. Since 1970, that philosophy has been embodied in an innovative
outcomes-oriented undergraduate program. With a network of project centers
that spans the globe, WPI is also the leader in globalizing technological
education. WPI awarded its first advanced degree in 1898. Today, most of WPI’s
academic departments offer master’s and doctoral programs and support leading
edge research in a broad range of areas. WPI’s approach to education has
prepared generations of problem solvers whose new ideas and inventions have
literally changed the world. They include Robert Goddard ’08, father of modern
rocketry, Harold Black, inventor of the principle of negative-feedback; Carl
Clark, inventor of the first practical airbag safety systems; Richard T.
Whitcomb, formulator the Area Rule and developer the supercritical wing, and
Dean Kamen, inventor of the first wearable drug infusion pump, and the stair-
climbing wheelchair.
