Mustang Rocketry Soars to New Heights at 太空港美洲杯 Competition
SMU 莱尔’s rocketry club celebrated a successful launch at the world’s largest intercollegiate rocket engineering competition
在起飞前几秒进入新墨西哥沙漠的天空, SMU 莱尔’s Mustang Rocketry Club felt confident in their culmination of nine-month’s hard work on their 10-foot-tall rocket.
他们已经测试过多次了. 他们做了计算并进行了模拟. They spent countless hours in between engineering classes planning, 设计, 建筑, 和筹款. 现在，在 太空港美洲杯 – the world’s largest intercollegiate rocket engineering competition – they were excited to put their rocket to the test, even after witnessing multiple other teams’ rockets fall apart, 故障, 或者在起飞前在发射台上爆炸.
“I wasn’t worried about catastrophic failure,” said Alexander Brandt, Ph.D. 的学生 机械工程. “I was worried about all the smaller things that could go wrong. I just really wanted to do well because we were representing SMU.”
From the interdisciplinary teamwork to the coordination and complexity of making the rocket’s multiple subsystems work together, Mustang Rocketry team members had never taken on a project of this scale before. 这是该组第一次参加比赛, though founding members of Mustang Rocketry competed in 2018. Scraps from their rocket are still tucked away in a locker in the Embrey basement, 作为一个警示故事，让我们期待意想不到的事情.
我一直在想:这就是我喜欢工程的原因. Putting all that hard work into something and then seeing it come to fruition and become successful is why I do it.
Trevor Isaac，机械工程专业
More than 150 teams participated from colleges and universities across the globe. SMU 莱尔’s team competed in the 10K commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) division, 这意味着它们需要飞近10英里,000英尺的高空.
“You know immediately after launch if it’s gone right or wrong,” Brandt said. “We saw ours go up in one piece and everything looked perfect. It was an amazing feeling trekking out into the desert to retrieve the rocket with the people who built it with you and seeing it intact on the ground, 什么坏了, 带着两个降落伞. 我很激动!”
一旦启动, 火箭成功地到达了8点,在空中453英尺, 几乎达到了团队的10人,安全着陆前的目标是1000英尺. They ranked 53 out of the 122 teams cleared to launch in flight performance.
“我们火箭的稳定性真的令人印象深刻, 尤其是考虑到这是我们的第一次,内森·范·斯莱克说, a 计算机科学 主要的. “我为我们的团队感到骄傲.”
数字孪生的设计创新
This year’s Mustang Rocketry team had a few advantages the 2018 team didn’t.
“We had a tremendous mentor who guided us through the whole rocket planning and 建筑 process,范·斯莱克说. “We shared our ideas and consulted with him on our design choices, and he would give us his advice. 没有他我们就不会成功.”
Dr. Ken Overton, a retired senior technical executive and consultant for R&D计划, 制造自动化, 以及产品开发, 为团队提供指导和设计灵感. 例如, he suggested implementing redundant screw switches so that if one of the screws backed out, 传感器之间的电气连接, 组件, 航空电子设备完好无损. David Berberian, president of Mustang Rocketry, was able to implement Dr. Overton’s suggestion and the result impressed competition judges, 谁赞扬了这个团队的创新.
该团队还利用了新大莱尔的新 数字和人类增强制造中心 创造一个数字双胞胎 帮他们预测了火箭的轨迹. By fusing together AI and machine learning with virtual and augmented reality, 数字双胞胎允许工程师优化流程, 模拟装配和测试, and account for all 组件 in their physical design. Brandt created Mustang Rocketry’s digital twin using a computer-aided design (CAD) model that could be visualized to scale with virtual and augmented reality, along with simulation software regarding the rocket's kinetics and kinematics.
“这不仅仅是一个模拟，”勃兰特说. “It allows us to accurately represent something in the physical world and know cohesively that this rocket is going to do what we think it’s going to do. I have the data from the first launch that I can now bring back to the digital twin and update to continuously improve the model with subsequent launches.”
帕特里克见鬼, a 机械工程 主要的 who is interested in an aerospace career, said working with the digital twin and 建筑 the rocket helped him choose which classes to enroll in for his senior year.
“I was using everything I’ve learned in my classes for the past three years at SMU and applying it to 建筑 this rocket,Dang说. “But this experience has shown me areas where I’d like to expand my knowledge. 我还有很多东西要学.”
肯尼Sangston, 野马火箭公司的顾问, was impressed with how well the team performed for their first time entering the competition.
“Without the hard work of these team members, none of this would have been possible,” he said. “We’ve learned a lot from this experience and we’re going to become an even stronger group going into the future.”
关于鲍比·莱尔工程学院
新加坡管理大学莱尔工程学院 thrives on innovation that transcends traditional boundaries. 我们坚信外部资金的力量, industry-supported research to drive progress and provide exceptional students with valuable industry insights. Our mission is to lead the way in digital transformation within engineering education, all while ensuring that every student graduates as a confident leader. 成立于1925年, SMU 莱尔 is one of the oldest engineering schools in the Southwest, 提供本科和研究生课程, 包括硕士和博士学位.
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