Twelve students are building a robotic arm and two other experimental devices to put on a rocket that NASA will launch 100 miles into the Earth’s atmosphere in August.
NASA’s RockSat-X program invites community college and university students from around the country to submit experiments for an annual launch, according to first-year engineering student Arnia Goode.
“I believe they fly about 30 experiments [on the rocket],” Goode said, “and they’re kind of all stacked on top of each other, where each college or team gets a deck, which is about like a 5 foot-by-2 foot space to build, kind of, whatever experiment they think is relevant … or something that you’re interested in studying.”
The AACC RockSat-X team started from word of mouth after Goode and Ryan Schrenk, an engineer with more than 10 years of experience with space payload missions, got permission from AACC to start the club and advertise it to other established clubs like the Super Science Club, according to Goode.
The group is advised by Schrenk and Lance Bowen, dean of the School of Science, Technology and Education.
The team spent the fall semester planning three experiments: a claw-like robotic arm, an accelerometer, which collects data like radiation in space and force of gravity, and three thermistors covered with different insulating materials to see which one works best.
Goode said the group should finish all experiments by May, when NASA will inspect and approve them to go on the sounding rocket.
A sounding rocket leaves the Earth’s atmosphere for approximately 10 minutes, Bryant Pepe, a fourth-year earth science student, said. “It goes up at an angle, hits a high point and comes back down,” Pepe explained.
According to Goode, the team has access to a lab space on the third floor of CALT, which includes 3D printers, soldering equipment and milling machines, to work on their experiments. The approximate cost of the experiments will be $5,000, according to Goode. The team also received $15,000 in funding by the Maryland Space Grant to cover for testing, fees to participate in the launch and travel expenses.
Still, the project is early in development and a lot is “to be determined,” according to Academic Chair for physical science Deborah Levine.
“It’s still early in the process,” Levine, an astronomy professor, said. “So right now it’s essentially in the planning phase.”
Still, Levine said she is “absolutely excited” for the outcome of this project.
Goode agreed, adding, “I want to go into mechanical engineering. So it’s definitely an experiment that leads to my place, my strengths and further interest areas which a lot of the other students in the club are, either computer science, engineering or, like, astronomy students.”
The launch will take place in Wallops Flight Center on Wallops Island, Virginia on Aug. 11.
