John Valasek, Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering

John Valasek, Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering and Director of the Vehicle Systems & Control Laboratory, received the Outstanding Alumnus of the Year Award for 2009 from the aerospace engineering department at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. The award, which recognizes outstanding accomplishments in the field of aerospace engineering, was presented in a ceremony at the department’s 15th Annual Alumni & Student Awards Banquet, held June 6th 2009.Valasek was also the featured speaker at the banquet and presented results of his current research at Texas A&M University.

John has been with Texas A&M University aerospace engineering department for twelve years, where his research and teaching is focused on bridging the gap between traditional computer science topics and aerospace engineering topics. It encompasses machine learning and multi-agent systems, intelligent autonomous control, vision based navigation systems, fault tolerant adaptive control, and cockpit systems and displays. John is an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Member of the Society of Industrial & Applied Mathematics (SIAM), and member of the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE). He has received several teaching and education awards, including the university level Association of Former Students Distinguished Achievement Award for Teaching (2008), college of engineering level Association of Former Students Distinguished Achievement Award for Teaching (2004), Scholar Of The Montague Center For Teaching Excellence (2001), college of engineering level B.P. Amoco Teaching Excellence Award (2001, 2003), and the Thomas U. McElmurry Teaching Excellence Award in the aerospace engineering department (2001, 2004). From 2006 – 2009 he served as the National President of Sigma Gamma Tau, the aerospace engineering honor society, and he received the National Faculty Advisor Award from AIAA in 2005.

John earned the B.S. degree in Aerospace Engineering from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona in 1986 and the M.S. degree with honors and the Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Kansas, in 1991 and 1995 respectively.

During the Fall 2008 semester, Dr. Carlson challenged the teams to provide a conceptual and preliminary design of a Uninhabited Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) capable of carrying a 2000 lb payload for a range of 800 nm at transonic speeds (Mach 0.8) and at altitude of 40,000 ft.

During the Spring 2009 semester, the instructor team of Drs. Strganac, Valasek and Boyd guided the teams through wind tunnel and scaled flight vehicle stages. Each team built and tested a wind tunnel model based on their design in the 3 x 4 ft Low Speed Wind Tunnel at H.R. Bright. The purpose of these tests was to validate conceptual design parameters with scaled models, as well as provide benchmark information for the scaled flight vehicles. Then, following wind tunnel tests, the teams built and flew flying scaled versions of their design at the Riverside campus.

The photos show the 3 teams with their aircraft. The three teams are:

1. Applied Industries, designers of the XF-77 Dark Wolf:

kneeling, L to R: Alexander Pankonien, Justin Wilkerson;

standing, L to R: Ainsley Vanrooyen, Professor Boyd, Jesse Mooney, Professor Valasek, Justin Freels, Professor Strganac (seated),

not shown - Matthew Kuester

XF-77 Dark Wolf

2. Ascension Aerospace, designers of the FQ-1 Phoenix:

L to R: Randell Labio, Leyton McElduff, Professor Boyd, Professor Strganac (seated), Michael Yager, Professor Valasek, Brad Burgess, Chase Caruth, Daniel Greisser

FQ-1 Phoenix

3. Manureva Aerospace, designers of the F-75 Loki:

back row, L to R: Adam Sexton, Professor Strganac, Tyler Rudloff, Professor Valasek, Professor Boyd, Adam Campbell,

front row, kneeling L to R: Edgar Wingo, Taylor Vaughn, Stephen Wells, Robert Keiser

F-75 Loki

The following individuals are acknowledged for their assistance: John Bowling - pilot, Cecil Rhodes - mechanic/technician, Yogesh Babbar - graduate research assistant, Arun Surendran - graduate research assistant, Shalom Johnson - graduate research assistant, and Drew Beckett - graduate research assistant.

Photo credit - Kasey Strganac.

Dr. Thomas William Strganac, P.E.

Professor of Aerospace Engineering

The OWN Low Speed Wind Tunnel is a part of the Department of Aerospace Engineering and the Texas Engineering Experiment Station (TEES).

Engineers from Asia, Europe, South Africa and North America met to exchange knowledge, ideas and processes used for the operation and maintenance of Low Speed Wind Tunnels. The conference included presentations by the various representatives as well as tours of A&M laboratory and testing facilities.

SATA started in 1965 and the OWN LSWT is a charter member. The OWN LSWT, which was built in the mid 1940s, last hosted the conference in 1983. An upgrade on the tunnel was started in the late 50s and it opened in its current state in 1960. The main parts of the wind tunnel have not changed, but all the controls and data acquisition have been modernized to state of the art technology.

The LSWT is in the center of the new wind tunnel complex, which supports research by faculty and students in aerospace. Low Speed Wind Tunnels are used to test the aerodynamic characteristics of objects and were started mainly as a tool for airplane design. They still fill this role, but have expanded to test spacecraft, missiles, cars, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles, oil platforms, buildings, outdoor structures and even golf clubs and golf balls.

Aggie Recon Force, a team of Texas A&M aerospace engineering students, won first prize in the 2nd Annual Lonestar Challenge, a student robotics challenge. The team’s robot, “D Mifflin”, was designed to resemble a box of ordinary office paper.

It looks like your everyday run of the mill box of office paper, even touting in big red letters that it was a bonus case including 2 free reams of paper. Looks, however, can be deceiving.

Underneath the cardboard box that can be found sitting somewhere near the office copy machine was something unexpected — a remotely operated robot outfitted with cameras and a laser-range finder.

It is the creation of Aggie Recon Force, a team of Texas A&M undergraduate aerospace engineering students. Dubbed “D. Mifflin” by the team, it was the winning entry in the 2^nd Annual Lonestar Challenge.

The competition is a student robotics challenge among Texas A&M, the University of Texas and a team of three schools — Prairie View A&M, Tennessee State and Southern University — from the Minority Leaders Program.

The challenge, which was hosted on the A&M campus and sponsored by Dr. Alok Das of the Air Force Research Laboratory, presented the team with the task of designing, building and demonstrating a system for covert, in-building surveillance and reconnaissance.

“It is a unique opportunity for the students to develop solutions for some of the challenges the Air Force faces,” said Dr. Helen Reed, a professor in the department of aerospace engineering and the faculty advisor to the group. “I think they recognize that students come in with fresh ideas and real creativity and maybe a simplicity to some of the answers to some complex problems.”

This year the teams were presented with a simulated hostage situation in an office setting and were asked to stealthily enter the office, identify the good and bad persons and provide the Air Force with a detailed map of the rooms and the situation.

“While looking for a method to achieve the stealth component of the competition we wanted to take advantage of the environment,” said Ryan Goodnight, the graduate advisor for Aggie Recon Force. “We looked for an object that would be commonplace, something you wouldn’t question if you saw it there.

“One of the examples we looked at was a trash can, one of those solid dark plastic ones. Another was a refrigerator. Eventually we converged on something that would be as unobtrusive as possible and that would be a cardboard box. Eventually that molded into lets do a paper box because that is bound to be in any office building.”

Once the idea was conceived, the team set about trying to design the robot, a process that took a little more than five months from start to finish. About three months of that time was spent on designing the robot, with the building of it taking up the remainder.

The remotely operated robot featured omni-directional drive with mecanum wheels, live video that was fed to the students operating the robot in another room to provide target identification, audio capture and communications relay powered by a laptop that was onboard the robot.

Unless the box was lifted off the robot, no one, other than the designers of the robot, would know what was underneath.

“We decided that instead of making it so it wouldn’t be seen, make it so if it was seen it wouldn’t be recognized as a robot,” said Colin Phillips, a freshman team member. “We settled on the paper box because you always see those sitting around in office buildings.”

Aggie Recon Force’s entry in the competition was judged to be the best by the panel f judges that included members of the Air Force Research Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center and Southwest Research Institute.

The Air Force noted that Texas A&M had the best solution to stealth and quietness, had thoughtfully analyzed and limited the robot’s scope and nailed the target specifications, had designed a robust and reliable system, and had implemented an effective integrated command and control structure.

The Minority Leaders Program team finished second, while the team from the University of Texas was third.

Texas A&M’s team, which received support from Lockheed Martin, was led by freshman Bishoy Khalil, and consisted of Phillips, freshmen Anthony Dominguez and Sean Merrill, and seniors Mike Massicotte and David Taylor. In addition to Goodnight, John Brashear assisted the team.

Written by: Tim Schnettler

Students from Texas A&M recently traveled to the NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., in order to design a spacecraft able to derail an asteroid from a collision course with Earth.

Professional engineers from the Ames Mission Design Center helped student engineers define a convergent design of a mission that could explore and deflect the asteroid Apophis.

The near earth asteroid (NEA) Apophis was discovered in 2004. At the time, it raised alarm, as many predicted that it could hit the Earth as soon as 2029. It was classified as high as a 4 on the Torino scale, much higher than any other celestial object. It was determined that an impact in 2029 would not occur; however, the asteroid could still crash into Earth in 2036.

Dr. David Hyland of Texas A&M University began work on an exploration mission to the asteroid Apophis in 2006. The students in three courses offered by Hyland designed APEP, the Apophis Preliminary Exploratory Platform. This mission was meant to just explore Apophis and track its movements. The end result would be a decision on whether or not the asteroid had a high chance of colliding with Earth.

In fall of 2008, the Deflect Apophis System (DAS) was designed by students in another class led by Hyland, AERO 426. The objective of the DAS was to move Apophis such that it would not collide with Earth.

The Apophis Exploration and Mitigation Platform (AEMP) is the current project, which involves a combination of both APEP and AEMP. First, the AEMP would stand some distance away from Apophis, taking of all of the necessary science measurements needed to deflect the asteroid. Then, it would employ a “gravity tractor” to begin movement. After a year, an “albedo change” substance would be adhered to the asteroid, forcing long term movement.

Pending ongoing discussions, AEMP may soon be a three-way partnership involving Texas A&M, NASA Ames and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, through King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology.

The exploration part of the mission would help determine the physical characteristics necessary in order to perform the two mitigations methods. Some characteristics that would be targeted would be mass, size and which direction it is spinning.

A “gravity tractor” is a spacecraft that uses the mutual attraction between all bodies as a method of movement. Over time, the asteroid and spacecraft will slowly move towards each other. If the spacecraft is propelled away from the asteroid, then the asteroid will be moved towards the spacecraft. This effect is only useful if it is used over a long time.

The concept of changing the albedo of an asteroid is a technique that is unique to Texas A&M. No other organization has designed a mission meant to use the manipulation of albedo as a way to move an asteroid. The albedo of an object is a measure of how reflective it is. The more reflective, the less heat it absorbs, and the less heat it emits as it cools. When the heat is emitted, a small force is created on the object. If the asteroid’s albedo is changed, this force can be manipulated to move Apophis over a long period of time.

A gravity tractor is only effective for as long as the spacecraft has propellant. On the other hand, modifying the albedo of the asteroid would be a permanent change, effective essentially forever. In the case of Apophis, the gravity tractor would be used to mitigate the immediate threat of 2036. The albedo modification would slowly push Apophis further and further away, meaning it would never impact the Earth.

While the asteroid Apophis may not be considered a threat to Earth, dozens of asteroids on Earth-crossing paths have been found. Should such an asteroid threaten to impact Earth, there is no currently well-developed plan for a way to divert it. Dr. Hyland and the students of Texas A&M involved in the project are suggesting this three stage process as a template for diverting all asteroids, using Apophis as an example.

]]> http://aero.tamu.edu/public-news/aerospace-engineering-students-design-asteroid-derailing-spaceship/feed http://aero.tamu.edu/public-news/texas-am-aerospace-engineering-students-compete-win-in-student-paper-conference http://aero.tamu.edu/public-news/texas-am-aerospace-engineering-students-compete-win-in-student-paper-conference#comments Thu, 04 Jun 2009 06:29:42 +0000 sankalp http://aero.tamu.edu/?p=615 Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

Two aerospace engineering students have advanced to the International Student Technical Paper Championship of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).

The 2009 AIAA Region IV Student Paper Conference was held April 17-18. It was hosted by the University of Texas at San Antonio and the Southwest Texas Section of AIAA.  A total of 27 students and faculty advisors from the University of New Mexico, the University of Texas at Arlington, the University of Texas at San Antonio, Texas A&M University at Kingsville, and Texas A&M University.

The first place students in the Graduate Technical Division, the Undergraduate Technical Division, and the Team Design Division will compete in the National Student Paper Competition at the 2010 AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Conference in Orlando, Fla.

Conference attendees were treated to tours of Boeing Co. and the Southwest Research Institute. A young professional seminar was also held so that student attendees could interface with young aerospace professionals and garner career advice.

The students and faculty from Texas A&M University who attended the conference wish to express their appreciation for the generous support provided by the Southwest Texas Section of AIAA.

The results from the competition:

Graduate Technical Division

1st Place: Matthew Harris, Texas A&M University

“The Implicit Function Theorem with Applications in Dynamics and Control”

Advisor: Dr. John Valasek

Undergraduate Technical Division

1st Place: Justin Wilkerson, Texas A&M University

“Fatigue of a Nanocomposite Laminate”

Advisor:  Dr. Dan Davis

Team Design Division

2nd Place: Kristen Holmstrom, Roy Palacios, and Brock Spratlen,

Texas A&M University

“Autonomous Robotics Laboratory: Hardware Demonstration of Cooperative Formation Control Laws”

Advisors: Dr. Johnny Hurtado, Magda Lagoudas

3rd Place: Justin Wilkerson, Texas A&M University

“Development of an Uninhabited Tactical Strike Aircraft”

Advisor Dr. Leland A. Carlson

The awards committee thoroughly enjoyed reading about AggieSat’s accomplishments over the past year. They were particularly inspired by the fulfillment of AggieSat’s mission statement through sending the satellite into space this summer but also by its outreach efforts to the community and leadership development within the organization.

AggieSat will receive $100 in its SOFC account as recognition for this award from The Association of Former Students.

AggieSat will also be recognized at the All-University Awards Ceremony in Rudder Auditorium on Sunday, April 19th (during Parents’ Weekend).Its name will also be inscribed on the new Organization of the Year plaque in the Department of Student Activities.

Travis Joiner and Rachel Joiner

Texas A&M University’s Department of Aerospace Engineering established the Travis & Rachel Joiner Memorial Scholarship Fund in memory of the brother and sister who were killed last spring.

Travis Joiner was a senior in the department and received his diploma posthumously on May 15, 2009. Rachel Joiner transferred to Texas A&M from Texas Christian University and was studying geology. Both graduated from Eldorado High School in Eldorado, Texas.

The aerospace department has raised enough funds to endow this scholarship in memory of the siblings.

To contribute to the fund, make checks payable to the Texas A&M University Foundation and list “Travis and Rachel Joiner Memorial Scholarship Fund” in the memo section. Contributions should be sent to Yolanda Veals, 3141 TAMU, College Station, Texas, 77843-3141.

For more information on the variety of ways to make a gift and how to direct your gift in
support of the Travis and Rachel Joiner Memorial Scholarship Fund in Aerospace Engineering, Click Here.

]]> http://aero.tamu.edu/public-news/travis-and-rachel-joiner-memorial-scholarship-fund/feed http://aero.tamu.edu/public-news/leland-a-carlson-scholarship-for-excellence-in-aerospace-engineering http://aero.tamu.edu/public-news/leland-a-carlson-scholarship-for-excellence-in-aerospace-engineering#comments Thu, 04 Jun 2009 05:50:06 +0000 sankalp http://aero.tamu.edu/?p=595

Dr. Leland A. Carlson

After 40 years of excellent service to Texas A&M University, Dr. Leland A. Carlson, Professor of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University retired on May 31, 2009. Now is your opportunity to honor an outstanding academian.

Lee Carlson received hid PhD in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering in 1969 from Ohio State University. He then joined the faculty at TAMU. His primary activities have involved teaching, advising, and research. He served three years in an administrative role as Assistant- Associate Dean of Engineering Undergraduate Programs. He has devoted considerable time and effort to aerospace engineering education accreditation activities with ABET. His research has been in transonic flows, aerothermodynamics, and high altitude balloon and balloon package thermal analysis.

Dr. Carlson is a Fellow of the AIAA, has served on the Career Environment, Academic Affairs, Fluid Dynamics, Applied Aerodynamics, and Plasmadynamics and Lasers technical committees, and has organized many meetings and technical sessions. Locally, he has been treasurer, vice-chairman, and chairman of the Houston AIAA section. He also served on the NASA Langley Wind Tunnel-WIAC peer review panel in 1985 and chaired the Transonic CFD peer review panel in 1989. Dr. Carlson is a Fellow of the American Society of Engineering Education and is the recipient of many teaching awards including the AIAA/ASEE J.Leland Atwood Aerospace Engineering Education Award. He is one of the few faculty who has received the Texas A&M University Former Students Award for Excellence in Teaching three times, once at college level and twice at the University level, first in 1987 and again in 2008. In 2009 he was also awarded the Caterpillar Teaching Excellence Award from the College of Engineering. And finally this year he was chosen by senior students for the Thomas U. McElmurry Excellence in Teaching Award for the sixth time.

Suffice to say, he is an accomplished, much loved teacher who will be greatly misses in the classrooms at the Bright Bldg. His many efforts on behalf of students are exemplified in the preceding paragraphs.

Dr. Carlson and his wife, Mayetta, reside in Montgomery and have two daughters, Dr. Lisa Lyons of Tallahassee, Florida, and Wendy Carlson of Irving, Texas.

For more information on the variety of ways to make a gift and how to direct your gift in support of the Leland A. Carlson Scholarship for Excellence in Aerospace Engineering Click here.