(Very) Brief Remarks on the Aerospace and Astronautics Programs at USC

Transcription

1 (Very) Brief Remarks on the Aerospace and Astronautics Programs at USC CCST Space Conference October 9, 2009 Yannis C. Yortsos Dean

2 Key Points Long USC Engineering History of Aero and Space Education and Research (Recent Activities also at the Information Sciences Institute) Also Systems Architecting and Engineering (Eb Recthin) Comprehensive (BS, MS and PhD) Degree Programs in Aerospace Engineering and in Astronautics Increased UG (domestic) Enrollments in both Aero and Astro Programs Strengths in Fluids, Materials, Combustion, Propulsion, Space, UAVs Research Support by NASA, AFOSR, other DoD (MURI), MDA, NSF, DoE Active Support by Aerospace Industry to UG Programs (NG, LM, Boeing, ) and Independent Projects (Rocket Club, Aero Club, ) Industrial Research Consortia by Airbus, Pratt and Whitney, General Electric- Driven by KAL 2

3 Challenges Attracting Talented Domestic PhD Students to Aero and Space Scarcity in the Pool of Traditional Aerospace Faculty Exports Control and ITAR as it Concerns Foreign Students Maintaining Southern California Aerospace Leadership Unsteady Research Support (NASA ) Lack of Roadmap for Space- (also not in the 14 NAE Grand Challenges) 3

4 Opportunities Rekindled Interest Among Domestic Students on Space (presentations to follow): Inspiration, engagement, multidisciplinary Drive Commercial/Military Technological Innovation and Space Industry: Communications, Sensing and Monitoring, Navigation, Space Assembly, Sustainability (Climate-Energy-Environ), National and Commercial Security Key to Solving Global Challenges Operating through Space (multidisciplinary) Expanding Human Frontiers The Geo-Space System 4

5 Small-Scale Flight and UAVs (Geoff Spedding) WASP I (Collaboration with Aerovironment) Low-Turbulence, Low-Speed Wind Tunnel at USC Bird and Bat Flight Studies (with Lund University, Sweden)

6 MS in Astronautical Engineering (Courtesy Mike Gruntman) One of three M.S. program in the nation (USC, AFIT, NPS) Available both on campus and on the web (US and global reach) Data for AY incomplete (will be slightly higher with graduation during summer 2009 added) 6

7 Student Projects Example 1: International Student Satellite Project (Joe Wang) A 3-year NSF grant on International Student Satellite Project (PI: ASTE faculty Joe Wang) sends 18 USC students to Japan from to participate in a student space mission HORYU HORYU Mission: A CubeSat (HORYU) designed, built, and operated entirely by students of KIT (Japan), Surrey U. (England), and USC Launch: ~2010; Orbit; Polar Earth (300km above earth) Objectives: Perform space material exposure tests Take high resolution images of the Earth Flight-validate a CMOS camera

8 Student Projects Example 2: Academic/Industrial Collaboration (David Barnhart) Rocket System Development Micro-Satellite Build & Launch Exploration System Development Del Carbon CUBESAT Earth Science Small Sat Yielding both innovative teaching methodologies and innovations in spacecraft and technology development 2 nd largest Test facility in US for Microsat dynamic testing Advanced architectures for Cubesats & Small sats LEAPFROG to become System Test Bed for Google X-Prize Team

9 Appendix Supplementary Material

10 MS Program Requirements (Courtesy Mike Gruntman) MS program revision approved in January 2009 Effective from Fall 2009 Program fine-tuning to better meet educational needs of the space/defense industry and government R&D centers Assures that all program graduates take coursework in key space-technology areas Required courses (4) Spacecraft System Design Space Environment and Spacecraft Interactions Orbital Mechanics Spacecraft propulsion Core elective courses (2) 2 astronautics courses (choose from 10+ grad astronautics courses) Technical elective courses (2) 2 science and/or engineering courses (choose from grad courses) Engineering math (1) 1 engineering math course 10

11 Astronautics M.S. Program Reach (Courtesy Mike Gruntman) Master of Science in Astronautical Engineering reaches students across the United States through VSOE s Distance Education Network (DEN) 11