1. The Role of Suborbital Flights for Education and Technology Development within Penn State’s Student Space Programs Laboratory Allen T. Kummer Sven G. Bilén Student Space Programs Laboratory http://sspl.psu.edu The Pennsylvania State University 1

2. Aerospace Workforce Needs  Looming workforce issues exist within aerospace industry as “Apollo generation” reaches retirement  Opportunities for students to obtain hands-on experience with spaceflight hardware have been steadily declining ◦ “At present, there are insufficient methods for students to acquire hands-on experience in the scientific and technical disciplines necessary for space commerce and exploration.” — Aldridge Report  Universities have been searching for their role ◦ USRA Annual Symposia have addressed aerospace workforce issues with its members

3. SSPL Provides Hands-on projects to apply classroom knowledge in real world, interdisciplinary settings Experience working through a complete design cycle Development of systems engineering mindset Student Space Programs Laboratory Selected Student Space Projects Nanosats Sounding Rockets High Altitude Balloons Microgravity Flights SSPL Resources Clean room Thermal–Vac Cryo Oven Anechoic Chamber Machine Shop Vibration Test http://sspl.psu.edu CubeSats

4. OSIRIS CubeSat University Student Experiment Ride Share Sounding Rocket Program High Energy Monitoring Instrument Precursor Balloon

5. StructuresPowerThermalC&DHNavigationCommunicationsGround Data SysScienceSystemsEPOProject Management JANUS OLite OLite 2

6. SSPL Integration with Curriculum  First-Year Seminar  Honors options  Undergrad and grad thesis topics  Independent Studies  Senior Design Projects  Space Systems Engineering Seminar  Space Systems Engineering Certificate ◦ 12 credits of space systems and related course work ◦ Space systems project work and documentation 6

8. Fall 2007Fall 2008Fall 2009Fall 2010Fall 2011Fall 2012 OSIRIS OLite 2 OLite Build a Little, Test a Little, Fly a Little

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10. The ESPRIT Mission  Three-year undergraduate project  Design, fabrication, verification, integration, and analysis of a scientific sounding rocket payload  Students produced: ◦ 7 scientific instruments ◦ 3 attitude instruments ◦ 4 engineering demonstrations ◦ Electrical and mechanical subsystems  Instruments demonstrated for future missions  Collaboration between PSU and three Norwegian Universities  Launched in June 2006 in Norway

11. Sounding Rocket Booms 11

12. Requirements for Suborbital Flights  Reusable Vehicles ◦ Access to the local environment for more than just optical experiments ◦ Access to the undisturbed environment around the spacecraft e.g. booms  Balloons ◦ Access to ground stations and ~24 loft times to characterize diurnal variation

13. Industry/Professional Mentoring Program  Tap into the experience of industry professionals for reviews (reduces project risk)  Assists students with networking with potential future employers  Additional source of funding ARL Penn State

14.  Graduate Theses  Senior Thesis  Independent Study  Space Systems Engineering Certificate  Evolution of the Universe  Space Weather  Plasma Science