To educate undergraduate students in the process of managing and developing a microsatellite. To prepare the students for successful careers in the Aerospace Community, by creating an industry-like project environment. And to bring the direct involvement of the industry into the education process through mentorship and project alliances. Professor Hank Pernicka steps up to take the SPARTNIK Challenge. Here are a few remarks from him: As the new director for project Spartnik, I thought it would be useful to establish this newsletter to keep all friends of Spartnik informed of our progress. Since we have made so many contacts and obtained help from so many, we thought this would be an effective way to update those interested. I also need to gratefully acknowledge Jeanine Hunter, who had the vision, courage, and energy to start the Spartnik project. Her capable efforts have brought Spartnik to the verge of being completed. Two classes of seniors here have been involved with the design and construction of Spartnik. I will now guide the third class, and I hope I can come close to the quality of project direction that Jeanine achieved. I thank her for helping me come up to speed on Spartnik's status during this summer's transition period. I wish her well in all her future endeavors. The help of our many industy mentors must also be acknowledged. Without them, our progress would have been much slower. I look forward to working with our industry friends in the future, and I thank them for the unselfish dedication of their valuable time. Finally, I look forward to leading our new group of students this fall semester in driving to finish Spartnik I. I know they will have the motivation and capabilities to do a great job! - Hank Pernicka Q. As the new project leader what do you see as the benefits to the students involved? A. There are many benefits to a project like this. Students are involved with a hands-on project that includes the design, manufacturing, and testing of an aerospace vehicle. In addition, they must deal with issues such as cost, project deadlines, written documentation, oral briefings, and management concerns. Frequently, students are not exposed to these areas until they are employed after graduation. However, the main benefit I can think of is that it is just plain fun to design, build, and fly a spacecraft! Q. What is your project plan to complete the satellite? A. The current plan is to have the first satellite completed by Christmas. We will then use the Spring semester to aggressively seek launch opportunities. This is an ambitious schedule, but one that we will try to meet nonetheless. We will also use the Spring semester to start the conceptual design of Spartnik II! Q. What do you see as possible opportunities for such a project to directly benefit the aerospace industry? A. The most immediate benefit is to provide capable BS Aerospace graduates who have a fundamental understanding of all the major subsystems of a spacecraft. Our students will be able to quickly "hit the ground running" as they are employed by companies involved with space missions. And who knows? Maybe we will come up with some valuable design techniques that can be used in future spacecraft made by industry! Q. What do you see in the future for the Microsatellite Design Laboratory at SJSU? A. I think we should see how Spartnik I does and take it from there. However, I hope we can fully develop our lab into one that will keep producing spacecraft that we put into orbit. I also want to maintain our primary goal of using the Spartnik project to effectively educate our students. How to contact us - Prof. Hank Pernicka - (408) 924-4054 hank@voyager.engr.sjsu.edu Tom Romano - (408) 756-0214 tom.romano@lmco.com Kathy Morgan - (408) 776-4736 morgank@pluto.csd.com
UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION Chemical Systems Division San Jose, CA The editor is requesting industry contributors, mentors and educators to contact him with comments or suggestions about the SPARTNIK project. Discussions on project performance, benefits to students, industry and the education community, may be sent to the editor. Also, ideas on how to improve the project, information on joint venture opportunities, secondary payload launch leads, or collaboration interests can also be sent. These responses will be posted in the following issue. This is being done to encourage industry feedback to the project managers, to increase industry involvement, and to inform other companies and universities on what is happening at San Jose State, by the use of a direct line communications tool. If responses come in on a regular basis, this information will be posted under the article title "Industry Speaks Out" every month. Thats right, not only will this project take us out-of-this world, but into the virtual world, World Wide Web that is. Announcing our home page at, http://www.nanospace.com/~asesur/us/spartnik/index.html Where you can get a more in-depth perspective on the project. From, project status, detail subsystem design specifications to team member profiles/resumes, can be viewed through an easy to navigate web site. Here is just a few of the informational pages you can link to; Over the past two years, many companies and individuals have contributed in some way to project SPARTNIK thus making it a reality for many students. The team members and the Aerospace Engineering department faculty would like to thank the following...... Lockheed Martin Corp. Loral Space Systems Applied Solar Energy Corp. United Technologies Corp. - Chemical Systems Division Optical Coating Laboratory Inc. Satellite Power Corp. Teledyne Corp. Kodak Logitech Martin Marietta Eagle Picher Phillips Semiconductor Teklam Kajon Inc. Stanford University - SSDL ........for their contributions...Thank you. This newsletter is also published on the World Wide Web, where the current and past issues of "The SPARTNIK Countdown..." can be viewed, with its related graphics and more detailed articles. You can access the SPARTNIK Countdown page at: http://www.nanospace.com/~asesur/us/spartnik/spartnik_nl.html This monthly newsletter is distributed, via email, to those who contributed, sponsored or expressed interest in this project. Feel free to forward this newsletter to any colleagues. If you want to be added to the distribution list or have questions or comments about the project or this newsletter, send the information to tom.romano@lmco.com. If you do not wish to receive this newsletter, reply to this message stating as such and your name will be removed. Thank you, Tom Romano Systems Engineer Project SPARTNIK Editor and Publisher "The SPARTNIK Countdown..." End Transmission - Volume #1, Issue #1, August 1996
Volume 5, Issue #1 -
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