AC 2012-4313: IONOSPHERIC ROCKET PAYLOAD DEVELOPMENT: PROJECT AND COURSE

Starting in 2009 a senior-level design project has been developed at WVU with the goal of having STEM students become familiar with space engineering concepts and development of basic payloads. The project is related to the national RockSat program through which the payloads are launched on NASA suborbital rockets. To facilitate participation by students from different backgrounds, the instructors have designed a special-topics course on principles of space engineering to complement the hands-on, open-ended lab experience of the project. Payload designs are evaluated by RockSat mission managers and the payload design must pass through a series of reviews before being accepted on the flight. Students document the development in technical reports and telecons with RockSat and other student teams. At the end of the spring semester, the student team participates in testing and integration at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility. The launch is followed by work on data analysis and preparation of a final report. A brief description of the course procedures is given along with an overview of the experiments conducted. A brief discussion of educational goals and positive outcomes of this activity for individual students and annual teams is presented. Finally the lessons learnt in organizing the project and course are summarized since they may be useful for schools and organizations planning to develop such programs.