Aerospace Engineering Faculty

Reed, Helen's Picture

Reed, Helen
Professor
(Texas A&M) Presidential Professor for Teaching Excellence

Phone: (979) 458-2158 [Main line] or (979) 845-2772 [AggieSat Lab]
Fax: (979) 845-6051

Email: helen.reed@tamu.edu
Webpage: http://aggiesatweb.tamu.edu/

Mailing Address
Texas A&M University
Department of Aerospace Engineering
611C H.R. Bright Building
3141 TAMU College Station, TX 77843-3141

Currently Teaching
My Hours: “Open” (feel free to stop by if I am in the office), and by appointment. Please contact Ms. Rebecca Marianno (611B HRBB, rmarianno@tamu.edu, 979-845-4137) for assistance.

AERO 303 High Speed Aerodynamics

AERO 691-636 Research

Education

Ph.D., Engineering Mechanics, Virginia Tech, 1981

M.S., Engineering Mechanics, Virginia Tech, 1980

A.B. in Mathematics, Goucher College, 1977

Areas of Interest

36 years experience: boundary-layer receptivity, stability, transition, and control; hypersonics.

20 years experience: micro- and nano-satellite design/build/fly; autonomous rendezvous and docking.

Recent accomplishments:

AEROTHERMODYNAMICS - Current Projects

1) Lead computational person in several major experimental and flight test programs aimed at modeling and evaluating Saric-developed discrete-periodic-roughness laminar-flow technology for swept wings.

o DARPA Quiet Supersonic Platform on F-15B at NASA-Dryden, wind-tunnel tests at NASA-Langley

o Air Force HiLDA/Sensorcraft program and O-2 flight tests, and Klebanoff-Saric Wind Tunnel tests at Texas A&M

o NASA-Langley, NASA-Dryden, Air Force G-III glove flight tests

2) Stability and transition of hypersonic boundary layers. Co-PI on 5-year, $10M 'NASA/Air Force National Hypersonics Science Center in Laminar-Turbulent Transition'.

SPACE - Current Projects (Texas A&M University) - AggieSat Lab Student Satellite Program - http://aggiesatweb.tamu.edu

1) LONESTAR - Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics Division (AFMD) at NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) sponsoring four-mission collaborative program called LONESTAR (Low-earth Orbiting Navigation Experiment for Spacecraft Testing Autonomous Rendezvous), between Texas A&M and University of Texas (UT) to develop autonomous rendezvous and docking (AR&D) technology demonstration.

o AggieSat2 – 1st launch [DRAGONSat / AggieSat2 (Texas A&M) / Bevo-1 (UT)] on STS 127 Space Shuttle Endeavour (15 July 2009, 22:03:10 UTC) with release from DoD Space Test Program Space Shuttle Payload Launcher (SSPL) (30 July 2009, 12:34:30 UTC) into 51.6°-inclination 330-km orbit over South America. NASA Phase 0/I/II Safety Review October 2008 along with fit check into SSPL, Phase III Safety Review 25 Feb 2009, flight unit delivered to NASA 20 Feb 2009. AggieSat2 (5” cubesat) not a kit; designed in-house. Operated on-orbit 230 days collecting DRAGON (Dual RF Astrodynamic GPS Orbital Navigator) data for mission success, with de-orbit 17 March 2010, 5:27:02 UTC. 1st contact 30 July 2009, 13:00:00 UTC by IK1ODO, Italy. Last contact 17 March 2010, 01:34:46 UTC by AggieSat Riverside Ground Station.

o AggieSat4 – 2nd mission. Objectives include partner-satellite release, three-axis stabilization, intersatellite communications, DRAGON characterization, and visual capability. Mass ~50 kg. Launch planned 2013.

2) STARE - Partner with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Lead) and Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in program called STARE (Space-based Telescopes for Actionable Refinement of Ephemeris), to build and launch 3U (4” X 4” X 12”) pathfinder satellites with optical payloads. 1st mission launched on NROL-36 Atlas 5 from Vandenberg Air Force Base on 13 September 2012. Two more missions planned.

3) The Aerospace Corporation Ground Station Network – In July and August 2012, The Aerospace Corporation partnered with AggieSat Lab to place ground station unit at Riverside campus near AggieSat Lab’s tower-based radio station. Features articulated 2 meter satellite dish and is networked together with units in California and Florida to provide command and telemetry coverage across United States.

SPACE - Past Projects (Arizona State University) - ASUSat Lab Student Satellite Program:

1) Three Corner Sat (3CS) - Part of University Nanosat I/II Program and joint effort among Arizona State University (lead), University of Colorado at Boulder, and New Mexico State University. Two of three 3CS satellites ("Sparky" and "Ralphie") launched as constellation from EELV Heavy Demonstration mission on 22 Dec 2004. Third satellite "Petey" delivered to Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, 13 March 2006. 3CS mission: MEMS micropropulsion experiment, low-cost COTS communications, imaging, distributed and automated operations, lessons learned in implementing student-satellite program

2) ASUSat1 - 6-kg nanosatellite designed by students for spectral imaging, 3-axis passive stabilization, +/-10 degree attitude determination at $1000 per satellite, GPS, autonomous operations, communications. ASUSat1 launched 26 Jan 2000 on 1st Air Force OSP Space Launch Vehicle Minotaur from Vandenberg AFB. Demonstrated that nanosatellites can be candidates for science and communications missions.

Awards and Honors

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H.R. Bright Building 7th Floor | Ph: (979) 845-7541 | Fax: (979) 845-6051