Graduate Projects I and II (ASEN 5018/6028) is a two-semester course sequence designed to expose MS and PhD students to Project Management and Systems Engineering disciplines while working a complex aerospace engineering project as part of a project team.   The project team of from 7 to 20 students may perform some or all of the following project activities during the two-semester course sequence:   requirements definition, design and design review, build, test, and verification.   A lecture common to all lab sections will introduce students to project management, systems engineering and entrepreneurship as well as technology transfer and intellectual property issues.

 

For ASEN 5018, it is strongly recommended that students interested in a particular graduate project section enroll early in the open enrollment period. If a graduate project section is full, students are encouraged to choose another project. They may also place themselves on the waitlist; however, until all graduate projects sections have been adequately enrolled, waitlisted students are not guaranteed a spot in the course.

 

Graduate Projects is a suitable option for degree AES MS students who choose to complete two semesters of work on an aerospace engineering project rather than write a thesis or complete certificate required coursework to satisfy graduation requirements, and for PhD students who value this type of project experience to meet their coursework requirements.  The course is also open to students in other engineering departments with the approval of the project professor. 

 

Students completing this course series will be better prepared for the type of project management processes and team dynamics they will encounter in government and industry. The knowledge and skills gained by the students as a result of taking this course will make them more competitive and effective in today's job market.

 

 

End of semester final presentations:

cTIDE – Monday, December 12, 8:00 – 12:00 at LASP

GOJETT – Monday, December 12, 3:00 – 6:00 in The Lockheed Martin Room, ECAE 1B16

Dream Chaser – Tuesday, December 13, 10:00 – 1:00 in KOBL S233

HySoR – Wednesday, December 14, 9:00 – 12:00 in Seebass ECAE 153

Hyperion, Wednesday Dec 14, 12:30 - 3:00 in Seebass

 

 

2010 Capstone Design Conference poster

 

Here is a brief description of the projects currently available.  For more detail contact Joe Tanner at joe.tanner@colorado.edu or the professor for the project in which you are interested.

 

• Previous semesters of the GOJETT miniature jet engine team researched and completed design criteria for a 40-pound class thrust engine for installation in an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).  The project has now expanded to include the design, build and test of a high speed UAV to be powered by a jet engine designed and built by the students with the goal of attaining super sonic speeds.    The following flyer provides more detail. Course Flyer. Project professor – Dr. Ryan Starkey

 

 

 

 

 

• The Human Spacecraft Design Dream Chaser team works on various aspects of vehicle subsystem definition and integration, including determining the required functional components and developing methodologies to analyze their placement options within or exterior to the pressurized volume. Previous semesters had been focused on a Lunar Lander prototype, while the current effort is tied to the 'Dream Chaser' concept vehicle - a commercial, human-rated, orbital spacecraft under development by a Colorado aerospace company.  Analytical tools were developed to assess human factors concerns such as quantifying accessibility of a given component for its operation, repair or replacement, and to perform mass and CG envelope calculations that include secondary structures and wiring/fluid connection pathways. The current team effort is focused on the cockpit design and layout with emphasis on performance and human factors.  The cockpit layout will be placed in a full-scale volumetric mock up of the spacecraft interior to validate the design. Future projects will be determined in related areas as needs arise. Students must be a U.S Citizen or permanent resident alien (green card holder) to enroll in this section. Project Poster. Project professor – Jim Voss 
  
  http://engineering.colorado.edu/news/CUE/2010/features/aero.htm
  http://www.colorado.edu/news/r/90fe7ee0fbaf04be91ac13ccdbeb5635.html

 

 

• The CubeSat for Thermosphere-Ionosphere Dynamics Experiment (cTIDE) is a 3-

  year, ~$1 million project to design and build a 30cm x 10cm x 10cm satellite that

  will be launched into low-Earth orbit to take observations of the atmosphere.

  Specifically, airglow (such as the aurora) light will be filtered for the neutral oxygen

  1356Å spectral line and images taken. This project heavily involves its team

  members with scientists and engineers at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and

  Space Physics (LASP), located on East campus at CU.  cTIDE public website

  Course Flyer.  Project professor – Dr. Xinlin Li/Dr. Scott Palo

 

•      The NASA-Boeing  X-48-FTS project  team called Hyperion will Conceive, Design, Implement, and Operate (CDIO) a scale model blended wing body low speed unmanned aerial vehicle.  In addition to systems engineering design this project will expose aerospace engineering students to practices of global industry.  Three teams from around the world will work as a global team on the project:  The project work follows the sun for 24 hours of productivity. Course Flyer.   Project professor – Dr. Jean Koster

   

• The Hybrid Sounding Rocket (HySoR) project was started in Fall 2010 under the sponsorship of United Launch Alliance (ULA). The ultimate goal of the project is to develop a system to launch and release a 2 kg payload at an altitude of 100 km using a hybrid-rocket motor. The immediate goal is to reach 10 km altitude with a commercial off-the-shelf oxidizer tank. This feat has never been accomplished by a university team, especially at such a phenomenally low budget. This project is built upon know-how from previous aerospace senior design projects, which designed and built non-flight-ready hybrid-rocket motors of different sizes. The HySoR team redesigned many of the components to make them flight-ready and, in addition, is designing the rocket body, electronics, and ground systems to support a successful launch. Upon successful launch and payload recovery, the HySoR rocket will provide an affordable capability to launch scientific, student-built payloads. The 2011-2012 team is in the final stages of designing and building a smaller-scale prototype rocket using a commercial, off-the-shelf oxidizer tank. A static test fire was conducted in November 2011 (see video here) and a launch from the Black Rock Desert in Nevada in late Spring 2012.
   Symposium Poster    Project professor – Dr. Lakshmi Kantha