MAE students win third place and rookie award at NASA competition

Mechanical and aerospace engineering students at North Carolina State University won the rookie award and third place overall at the 2009-2010 NASA University Student Launch Initiative competition.

The NC State students competed against their counterparts at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, which placed first in the competition, and Mississippi State University, which placed second. Mitchell Community College and Georgia Tech placed fourth and fifth respectively.

The students on the NC State team were Aaron Bowe, Alan Brown, Reed Goodwin-Johanssen, Isaac Owolabi, Jaimal Patel, Mario Noya, John Claybrook and Anna Winslow.

Participants were tasked to design, build and launch a reusable rocket that met the requirements of the judges. Students submitted project proposals during the fall. Those who were selected designed their rocket and payload throughout the school year.

The competition, which took place in April at Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, is designed to provide engineering students in college with opportunities to not only research in preparation to launch their rockets, but also to engage with NASA engineers.

The project also requires flight readiness and safety reviews before the rockets and payloads are approved for launch. After launch, teams complete a final report to include conclusions from their science experiment and the overall flight performance.