‘rocketry’
Vanderbilt rocketeers win sixth payload design award at NASA launch competition
Apr. 20, 2016—The Vanderbilt student rocket team collected two key awards in NASA’s Student Launch Challenge following a near flawless flight of their Thrustworthy rocket Saturday, April 16, at Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama. At the awards banquet held at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Vanderbilt – three-time national champs – won the coveted...
Three-time national rocketry champs are off to a strong start defending their title
Nov. 20, 2015—The Vanderbilt Aerospace Design Lab is off to a strong start defending their national rocketry title in the 2015-16 NASA University Student Launch Challenge competing against a field of 39 other university teams. On Nov. 14 the student team successfully launched a subscale model of this year’s rocket design and they also kicked off a...
Mars rocket demo wows at Nashville school’s assembly
Mar. 19, 2015—A robotic arm moves directly over a Vanderbilt Aerospace Club rocket. In the arm’s grippers is a white capsule the size of a hotdog bun. “The arm moves nice and slow and safe like NASA likes it because failure is not an option,” said William Emfinger, graduate student mentor to the Aerospace Club. When the...
Aerospace Club works on simulated Mars sample recovery vehicle for NASA competition
Dec. 4, 2014—The Vanderbilt Aerospace Club, defending champions in the NASA Student Launch (NASA SL) Challenge for the past two years, is tackling the agency’s all-new 2014-15 design challenge. The rocket team is working on an earth-simulated Mars Sample Recovery Vehicle, which includes an Automated Ground Support Equipment Robot (AGSE) that autonomously places an encapsulated soil sample...
Vanderbilt rocket camjet to capture landing hazards during NASA contest
Jan. 16, 2014—Organizers of the NASA Student Launch Program (SLP) have announced a final field of 27 collegiate teams to compete in the space agency’s 2013-2014 national rocketry challenge, and have introduced a number of changes to the program. This is the seventh year the Vanderbilt Aerospace Club, the 2012-2013 national champion, has been selected for the...
Fun experiments fan middle schoolers’ interest in engineering
Nov. 22, 2013— Brandon Dimmig steadies a fan cart for a cluster of eager fifth graders. The fan cart looks like a toy and students are instantly attracted to the straight grey track and the small black cart with a movable fan. “If we keep the fan on the same speed and we add some extra weight...