North Dakota NASA Space Grant Consortium

NASA‐relevant Research Focus Areas

Astronomical/Planetary Science

Program 1: Asteroid and meteorite research group

Asteroid research in North Dakota has grown substantially since 2003 and has received more than $750,000 in NASA funding. This effort will grow this developing area by building collaborations and research projects with faculty and students from multiple colleges and universities and expand specific asteroid research capabilities, which currently focus on near‐infrared spectral observations of near‐Earth and main‐belt asteroids.

Program 2: Solar physics/space weather research group

In collaboration with the North Dakota NASA EPSCoR program, this effort will develop a new, multi‐institution research group in solar physics in North Dakota. Solar physics research is new in the state, but beginning efforts have already led to $50,000 in funding and the beginning of two research projects that will lead to three M.S. theses. Nationally, solar physics expertise at universities and colleges is lacking and this effort will address both the national need to bolster academic solar physics capabilities and offer a new education and research area in North Dakota.

Program 3: Mars research group

Academic research on Mars in North Dakota has occurred at a low level, primarily at North Dakota State University, despite Mars being a central focus for planetary science research since the late 1990s. This effort will develop a multi‐institution, multi‐faculty research cluster that will develop specific areas of research expertise that are applicable to the study of Mars.

Space Suit Research

NDX-2 planetary space suit development. Planetary space suit research in North Dakota has been nurtured since 2004 and has already led to highly successful multi-institution research programs, such as the NDX-1 Mars planetary space suit. Continuation of this research has been bolstered in FY 2009 by $741,000 in funding for a three-year grant from the NASA EPSCoR CAN program to develop a lunar inflatable habit, pressurized rover, suit port assembly, and space suit. The Consortium will value-add this NASA funding, as necessary, and work to ensure its continuing development and expansion. http://human.space.edu.

Earch Science

Earth sciences research is of fundamental importance to many North Dakota industries, including agriculture, ranching, and land-use. NASA-funded Earth sciences research is occurring in North Dakota, but this effort will work to expand this activity by matching faculty from multiple institutions and learning from the expertise of faculty currently conducting Earth sciences research.

Materials Science

Materials science is a broad research area that has many NASA applications. Currently, active NASA-related materials science research is occurring at North Dakota State University (NDSU). The Consortium will pursue efforts to assist and expand the research occurring at NDSU while also searching for faculty around the state who wish to partner with NDSU and to expand similar or complementary research areas.

Satellites

Program 1. CubeSat design, development, launch, and operation.

Despite involvement in NASA scientific research in North Dakota, no lasting effort has been made to develop a space engineering expertise within the state, which would be complementary to the ongoing space science research. In addition, space engineering offers the ability to develop a new manufacturing sector in North Dakota and to involve students and faculty in hands-on engineering and research. CubeSats, which are small satellites, offer an ideal way to begin developing an in-state space engineering expertise. Many universities have CubeSat programs underway and both NASA and the National Science Foundation are showing increasing interest in the use of CubeSats for research. http://www.cubesat.org.

Program 2. Other small satellite programs.

Support efforts to develop small satellites through other programmatic opportunities that include the University Nano-satellite Program, EyasSat, and others. http://www.eyassat.com/ and http://www.vs.afrl.af.mil/UNP/.

RockOn

The national RockOn/RockSat programs provide practical experiences for students and faculty to build, launch, and recover payloads for sounding rockets. These workshops provide critical engineering and teamwork experiences that will help to develop the NASA‐relevant engineering expertise in North Dakota.

http://spacegrant.colorado.edu/rockon/

Below are photos of the UND 2008 RockSat team:

BalloonSat

Participation in BalloonSat programs (both the national workshop and launches in North Dakota) provide high school and college students experience in building balloon payloads and conducting launches, in‐flight monitoring, and recovery, which provides engineering, science, and team‐building experiences that increase in‐state expertise in mission operations and scientific study.

http://spacegrant.colorado.edu/COSGC_Projects/studentsat/index_2010.html

High‐Altitude Student Payload

HASP is an advanced high‐altitude national ballooning program where space instrumentation can be initially tested and validated prior to flight on suborbital or orbital rockets. Participating faculty and students receive real‐world experience and training in designing, building, and flying space instrumentation.

http://laspace.lsu.edu/hasp/

University Student Launch Initiative

This is a NASA‐sponsored student rocket competition where teams must designand build a rocket that will achieve an altitude as close to one mile as possible. This program provides design, engineering, and team‐building experiences that increase the in‐state engineering and mission operations expertise of students and faculty.

Website

USLI UND Team Photos:

Black Rocket 2008-2009                    White Rocket 2009-2010

Below is a list of students who have taken part in USLI at UND. The team has been in competition since 2007.

Matthew Voigt - Physics/Space Studies Grad.
Anthony Orzo - Mechanical Engineering/Pre-med
Stephanie Corbett - Mechanical Engineering
Ryan Wolbeck - Undecided
Zach Schiller - Electrical Engineering
Lindsay Anderson - Physics/ Physics graduate at Dartmouth
Jeffrey Buchwitz - Air Traffic Control
Will Swearson - Archeology / Space Studies Grad.
Johnathan McClure - Electrical Engineering
Arjay Eve - Physics
Kyle Anderson - Electrical Engineering
Meagan Schaal - Physics / Physics Graduate at U of North Florida
Michael Voigt - Graphics Design

Affiliate Research

Promote and foster the development of NASA-relevant research expertise at the Consortium’s non-research affiliate colleges and universities. This program aims to match affiliate faculty directly with NASA researchers to develop research projects that can be implemented by the faculty in North Dakota. The long-term goals of this program are to increase faculty expertise in NASA-relevant research and to assist the faculty in developing independent, self-sustaining research programs.

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