Clarkson University Students Earn Third Place in NASA Competition

Clarkson University and a group of Uruguayan students teamed up to place third in a recent NASA sponsored competition created to invoke space exploration innovation.

The Clarkson team was one of 18 that attended the 2011 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts - Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) forum June 6-8 in Cocoa Beach, Fla.

The team pitched a plan for a safe and relatively cost-effective way to launch a manned mission to Mars to a panel of NASA and industry leaders.

Clarkson University Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering Pier Marzocca, team co-advisor, said that the competition is designed to give NASA fresh ideas and to spark the imagination and creativity of college students. "They are looking for thinking out of the box," he said. "NASA people have been used to always doing things in a certain way - have flown the Space Shuttle for almost 30 years - and having innovative ideas coming from college students can let them thinking differently - that's what this program is all about."

The students learn about NASA and space exploration while helping NASA brainstorm new technologies to further advance their space exploration program.

This year, Clarkson students collaborated with students from Uruguay. The Clarkson students were primarily in charge of the system engineering analysis and implementation aspects while the team members from Uruguay were in charge of the architectural design, timeline, and business aspects.

Central to the approach is to build a spacecraft that would travel from Earth to Mars and back without landing on either planet. A separate craft would shuttle passengers and cargo from Earth orbit, to the first ship. Those two ships would travel to Mars together, along with a third vessel that would make the actual Mars landing. All three ships would be reusable, helping to make the system cost effective.
 
The students also designed a system for the main spaceship to capture an asteroid and mine it for its resources. These resources could be used to aide travels between the two planets.

The students named their proposal Yvy pita, meaning "red world" in Guarani, a native Uruguay language.

Located in Potsdam, NY, Clarkson University describes itself as a nationally recognized research university for undergraduates with select graduate programs in signature areas of academic excellence directed toward the world's pressing issues. Clarkson connects discovery and engineering innovation with enterprise.

For more info, visit http://www.clarkson.edu/news/2011/news-release_2011-07-13-2.html