Iowa Space Grant Consortium

Announcements

HuLC Challenge for College Students

Announcing NASA’s Human Lander Challenge (HuLC). Awards include $7,000 team stipends and $18,000 in prizes. Interested teams have a full year to prepare and submit proposals. HuLC is open to teams of undergraduate and graduate students at accredited colleges and universities in the United States.

Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) are encouraged to apply. Up to 12 teams will be selected to continue developing their proposed concepts. Full challenge guidelines can be found HERE

Important HuLC Dates:
– April 19, 2023: Submit a question in advance of the Q&A session
– April 28, 2023: Q&A Session 1 for interested teams (2-3:30p.m. EST)
– October 22, 2023: Notice of Intent deadline
– November 8, 2023: Q&A Session 2
– March 4, 2024: Proposal and Video Submission
– June 25-27, 2024: HuLC Forum at or near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center

DMACC Boone Campus Success

Congratulations to Allison Arnold (left) and Kaylin Petrak (right) from the Boone Campus DMACC! They both successfully completed “Mission 1: Discover” of NASA’s NCAS (NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars’) Program this spring and were also both selected to participate in “Mission 2: Explore!”

Earth Day Opportunity for Educators and Students

NASA’s Earth Day Briefing for Students is a hybrid event for all informal and formal middle and high school educators and students.

All schools are welcome to join virtually as a panel of four NASA experts discuss Earth science and conservation topics and respond to student questions. The event will broadcast live on NASA TV from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center from 1-2PM EDT on Thursday, April 20th.

To ask a question during the live event, please register HERE

SHO Spotlight: OpenUAS at Iowa State University

ISGC Student Hands-On Spotlight: OpenUAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) at Iowa State University

The OpenUAS project is a multidisciplinary undergraduate research team that is aimed at developing an open-source fixed wing aircraft under the supervision of Dr. Kristin Yvonne-Rozier in the Laboratory for Temporal Logic. The goal is to give research teams, undergraduate/high school teams, and otherwise interested groups of people access to plans for a cheap, easy-to-manufacture, configurable fixed wing UAS to serve as an educational or test platform.

These plans will include a variety of resources, including 3D models and schematics, instructions on how to manufacture and customize the airframe, a guide to choose and integrate electronic components (such as a motor or flight computer), and how to use and extend the software capabilities of selected platforms. The project seeks to provide a comprehensive experience for building a customizable fixed wing aircraft, like many similar resources already developed for quadcopters.

SHO Spotlight: Cyclone Rocketry

ISGC Student Hands-On Spotlight: Cyclone Rocketry Rocket Shop

Cyclone Rocketry is a multidisciplinary engineering team from Iowa State University that works yearly to research, design, manufacture, test, and fly high-powered rockets. They are comprised of college students to further human advancement in space exploration. Their mission is to educate, challenge, and inspire the Iowa State students, community, and future generations about rocketry, science and engineering, and space exploration. They follow a yearly design cycle and compete in International High Powered Rocketry competitions while working with industry leaders to extend the boundaries of amateur rocketry.

Rocket Shop builds a rocket on a yearly design cycle for the Spaceport America Cup which takes place in New Mexico in late June. This year, they are pushing to new heights as a team by competing in the 30k SRAD solids division. This means that their target apogee is 30,000 feet and they are developing their own motor. As part of their rocket, they are developing student made aerostructures, airbrakes, descent control system, piston ejection system, atmospheric analysis experiment, and the largest motor in team history.