Caitlin Milera

Three Utah State University engineering students were awarded funding on behalf of the Utah Space Grant Consortium for internships this past summer.

Adam Weaver, a recent graduate student at USU studying mechanical engineering with an emphasis in aerospace engineering, and Payton Taylor, a senior also studying mechanical engineering with an emphasis in aerospace engineering, received $6,200 each for their internships at Northrop Grumman. They worked in the propulsion systems department for four months.

“I was very thankful for this opportunity and excited that I was a recipient,” Weaver said. “The internship was a great experience.”

Read the full article on USU.edu.

Author Credit: Sydney Dahle

Image Credit: (Photo Credit: NASA)

After a decade-long project, the Yale Undergraduate Aerospace Association, or YUAA, is gearing up to launch a satellite into outer space in the coming year.

Through their CubeSat project, YUAA aims to send a device called a cosmic ray detector aboard a NASA rocket into orbit around the Earth. Though the initiative began in 2015, it has faced delays — most recently, one of their computers catching fire — which has bumped their target completion date from winter 2024 to 2025.

Still, CubeSat co-leads Rome Thorstenson ’25 and Matilda Vary ’25 are hopeful that the decade-long effort will soon bear fruit. Since the program’s start, two full “generations” of students have graduated, Thorstenson said. When he joined the group as a first year, he was brand new to the field.

Read the full article on “Yale Daily News.”

Author Credit: Vishnu Bharathram

Image Credit: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/topics/cubesats

University of Massachusetts Amherst mechanical engineering major Brendan Scott has received a NASA undergraduate fellowship to study how insulative polymers could be turned into high thermal conductivity polymers. These polymers are desirable for a wide variety of applications ranging from space exploration to electronics that need to dissipate heat quickly and efficiently.

Read the full story on umass.edu.

Author Credit: Julia Westbrook

The NASA Connecticut Space Grant Consortium (CTSGC) has awarded Fairfield University School of Engineering and Computing with four research grants to fund research and design projects this year. In fall of 2023, assistant professor of computer science Sidike Paheding, PhD, assistant professor of mechanical engineering David Shekhtman, PhD, Seamus Dwyer ’24, and Dermot Warner ’24 received research grants. Lucas Danburg ’27 was awarded an undergraduate scholarship, and Gabriel Grant ’25 received the Community College Transfer Scholarship.

Read the full story on Fairfield News here.

Author Credit: Fairfield News

Image Credit: NASA

Thanks to a University of Arizona student and her childhood dream, visitors to the UArizona campus now can take a walk through the solar system at the same time.

Zarah Brown, a doctoral student at the UArizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, led the installation of 11 plaques depicting various objects of the solar system true to scale. Designed to show the relative sizes and distances of solar system objects at a 1:5 billion scale, the outreach project aims to make space science accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds and to highlight UArizona’s accomplishments exploring the solar system.

Dedicated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Sept. 8, the stations comprising the Arizona Scale Model Solar System are spaced out across two-thirds of a mile of campus between the Kuiper Space Sciences Building and the intersection of East University Boulevard and North Euclid Avenue.

A project website, accessible by QR codes at each stop, will provide information via screen readers for the visually impaired, as well as additional details as new scientific discoveries are made.

The project is the result of collaborative efforts made possible by the support of the NASA Space Grant program and an anonymous benefactor.

Read the full article on the University of Arizona News Page.

Author Credit: Daniel Stolte

Image Credit: Harry Tang/University of Arizona

The Interplanetary Initiative at Arizona State University unites academia, industry and government to launch space research projects with tangible real-world impact. These collaborative efforts have given rise to a series of pilot projects, which engage broadly across the ASU ecosystem and extend globally for maximum impact.

The projects arise from immersive workshops using the “big questions” teaming method. The method is designed to drive cross-sector innovation, using structures and incentives that support teams, goals and outcomes. During these workshops, teams are forged, project ideas are born and the path to secure annual seed funding from the initiative is paved.

Read the full article on the Arizona State University News Page.

Author Credit: ASU News

Image Credit: Interplanetary Initiative

KENOSHA, Wis. (CBS 58) — The 58 Hometowns tour is taking a close look at another historic educational institution within your hometowns, and this time, it’s a little south, about halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee: Carthage College.

Natalie Shepherd will showcase Carthage on CBS 58 news on Tuesday and Thursday, featuring the school during a time that is particularly exciting on campus, as it gears up for its 149th annual Christmas Festival this weekend.

Beyond the joy of music, Natalie will also showcase some of the more unique aspects of Carthage’s academic portfolio, including its status as the school heading the state’s NASA Space Grant Consortium, leading the way on many Space Science initiatives from childhood through adulthood.

Read the full article on CBS58.com.

Image Credit: CBS 58 Newsroom

Author Credit: CBS 58 Newsroom

Picture soaring over a rugged canyon on another world, strapped into an imaginary hang glider. Or getting a bird’s eye view of craters that stretch on for miles and following along the same paths as the robotic rovers that have explored the surface of Mars. All of this is possible – virtually – thanks to specialists at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory.

A team at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory has created realistic terrain models of Mars’ surface using specialized software and high-resolution images taken from space. Known as digital terrain models, or DTMs, these renderings allow mission planners to examine landing sites for landers and rovers and scout routes across the alien terrain, laying the groundwork for ongoing and future Mars exploration campaigns.

Read the full article on the University of Arizona News Page.

Author Credit: Penny Duran, NASA Space Grant Science Writing Intern, University Communications

Image Credit: Kevin Gill, JPL-Caltech

KU Engineering alumna Loral O’Hara arrived at the International Space Station on Sept. 15, joining the crew of Expedition 69.The fourth Jayhawk astronaut and KU’s first woman astronaut, she graduated from NASA’s astronaut candidate program in 2017.

She will stay on the space station for six months, according to NASA.

Chair of Aerospace Engineering Richard Hale taught three of O’Hara’s classes during her time at KU.

“What stood out for her is her passion for being an astronaut because she said that was her goal as a freshman,” Hale said. “And she stuck to that goal, had a long term plan.”

Read the full article on The University Daily Kansan.

Author Credit: Cara Barone

Image Credit: NASA