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The Aerospace Enterprise is a student organization at Michigan Technological University composed of a multidisciplinary group of over 110 students. Students work together on innovative and relevant aerospace related projects, and all members contribute towards achieving specific project goals. Through the Aerospace Enterprise students are able to enhance their engineering and aerospace knowledge, as well as develop personal and leadership skills that will provide valuable work experience before graduation. Additionally, students work closely with industry sponsors whose contributions play a vital role to the enterprise's success. We are currently working on four projects: The Oculus-ASR Nanosatellite Project is a collaboration of MTU students and industry sponsors taking part in the University Nanosat-6 (UN-6) competition. UN-6 is sponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory's Space Vehicles Directorate (AFRL/VS), the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), and the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). The Oculus-ASR project is currently the largest project in the MTU Aerospace Enterprise with more than 70 members divided into eight sub-teams listed under the Oculus-ASR menu on the left. Student teams are given two years to develop and build a fully functioning nano-scale satellite, and the winning team is provided with a launch into space. The High Altitude Autonomous Research Platform(HAARP) is an autonomous glider. The goal of the glider team is to study all aspects of the autonomous air vehicle system by designing and building a ground deployable vehicle capable of achieving level powered flight under 10,000 ft; with the ability to carry and support a 3lb payload while air vehicle can be hand carried by 1 person. Zero Gravity Research project. Each year a group of students applies for the opportunity to perform a research project in zero gravity on NASA's zero-gravity simulation aircraft, the C-9. This year the C-9 team is working with graduate student Jason Makela who is doing research on ion space propulsion. Recently, research has been focused on applying this technology to create regenerable emitter tips. Emitter tips, fabricated by coating sharp tungsten tips with molten indium, will be quenched in a vacuum in micro gravity, reproducing conditions in space. Creating the emitter tips in micro gravity will give Jason the opportunity to analyze the difference between emitter tips made on earth and in space. Leading to a revolutionary new way to travel in space. Cansat project is a university competition in which we compete annually in Amarillo, Texas. We design and build a cansat to be launched and deployed from a rocket at an altitude of about 760 meters. The cansat is to descend no faster than 4.6 meters per second. If a parachute is used as the main recovery device, it must be released within 1 meter of the ground. Once landed, the cansat must be in its defined upright position or upright itself to its defined upright position. All operations must be autonomous. Altitude data must be transmitted at least every 5 seconds. The cansat must fit into the payload section of a 76mm diameter rocket. Sponsors:  |
Aerospace Enterprise 
