smead aerospace capstone design program
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Aerospace Capstone Design PROGRAM
University of Colorado Boulder
“If you look across Lockheed Martin you will find
Smead Aerospace graduates working in critical technical and leadership roles in the country’s most important programs. Their extraordinary technical competence, combined with
visionary leadership and an entrepreneurial spirit, are the
reasons we hire them.”
Steve JollyDirector and Chief Engineer, Commercial Civil Space
Lockheed Martin Space
The University of Colorado Boulder’s Aerospace Engineering Sciences Senior and Graduate Design Programs provide an innovative educational opportunity for students to undertake a real-world project for an industry sponsor.
During their senior year, all undergraduate aerospace engineering students enroll in the department’s two semester senior projects course. Working in teams to complete a sponsored project, students synthesize and apply fundamentals of science, mathematics, and engineering as they emulate the activities of a small, entrepreneurial company.
At the graduate level, Master’s and PhD students have the option to enroll in an advanced projects course that builds upon senior design and offers sponsors additional flexibility in project structure, duration, and complexity.
Aerospace Senior and Graduate Design PROGRAMS
Senior Design How it Works » 10-12 students per team.
» Teams are responsible for budget, time, and personnel management.
» Teams report weekly to their faculty advisor and three times each semester to a project advisory board.
» Two full-time machinists and full-time electronics instructors are available to students.
» Each team spends at least 4,480 hours on the project over 28 school weeks.
» 1st semester: Teams conduct modeling and simulation, conduct trade studies and review possible routes as they follow the systems engineering project lifecycle.
» 2nd semester: Teams focus on manufacturing, integration, testing, verification, and validation of their designs.
» Primary goal is education. Projects that are in your critical path, are subject to export controls, or contain IP cannot be accepted. All projects are conducted on a best-effort basis.
GROUP SPONSOR PROJECT SPECIFICATIONS/GOALS
SPECS Air Force Rsch Laboratory
Specialized Propulsion Engine Control System
Increase Thrust-to-Weight (T/W) Ratio of the JetCat P90-RXi Engine.
GHOST The Aerospace Corporation
Ground-based Hardware for Optical Space Tracking
Design a low-cost, ground-based, optical tracking system for space situational awareness and space traffic management.
MACULACU Aerospace Engineering Sciences
Mapping Architecture Concept for Universal Landing Automation
Create proof-of concept spacecraft LIDAR system and develop software to identify hazards/select safe landing zone.
HERMES Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Hazard Examination and Reconnaissance Messenger for Extended Surveillance
Design and build a child scout rover to determine a viable path to a location of interest, travel to it, transmit relevant data, then return and dock to the mother rover.
Sample Projects
Customer
SystemsEngineer
Safety & Test EngineerCFO
Subsystem 1Lead Engineer
Subsystem 2Lead Engineer
Subsystem 3Lead Engineer
Subsystem 4Lead Engineer
Common Subsystems: ElectricalSoftware Aerodynamics MechanicalThermal
PABAdvisor
ManufacturingEngineer
ProjectManager
Project MilestonesLearning goals for the teams match industry practices. Students learn and follow standard design process milestones:
» Project Definition Document (PDD) - Developed in cooperation with the project sponsor and articulates the functional requirements, scope and deliverables of the project.
» Conceptual Design Document (CDD) - Describes the baseline design and process that was used to arrive at that design. Involves the evaluation of at least three conceptual designs that meet functional requirements.
» Preliminary Design Review (PDR) - Presents evidence that the project objectives, as defined in the PDD, for the baseline design in the CDD, is feasible within the constraints of technology and the senior projects course. This is done through modeling and preliminary experimentation.
» Critical Design Review (CDR) - Presents the detailed design of the project along with a description of how the design meets the requirements, how key decisions were made about what will be purchased versus manufactured, how the system will be integrated and tested and what resources are needed. A successful CDR is required before approval to expend project funds is given.
» Fall Final Report (FFR) - A comprehensive document of the design synthesis portion of the Senior Projects course.
» Manufacturing Status Review (MSR) - A formal interim review on the status of the project that focuses on manufacturing.
» Test Readiness Review (TRR) - A formal interim review on the status of the project that focuses on testing.
» AIAA Student Paper - Teams write a paper on interesting aspects of their project and are encouraged to share their work at the Region V AIAA Student Conference.
» Spring Final Review (SFR) - Presents the verification and validation results of the project. Teams are expected to clearly present and interpret the results of their tests in the context of the project requirements. Teams are also expected to close the design loop by connecting the test results to modeling and design work that went into developing the design.
» Project Final Report - Complete written report for the project that includes all data packages developed during the course.
» Senior Design Symposium - Short presentations to project sponsor and invited guests followed by a poster session and prototype demonstrations.
GROUP SPONSOR PROJECT SPECIFICATIONS/GOALS
TALOS Lockheed Martin Lunar Lander MockupBuild a mockup of a two person lunar lander and provide human factors testing results.
MLI L3Harris Deployable Multi-Layer Insulation
Design collapsible insulation for a deployable boom and test in a thermal vacuum chamber.
CU-E3 NASA CubeQuest Challenge
CU Earth Escape Explorer Cubesat
Build and launch cubesat to compete in the NASA Deep Space Derby long-distance communications challenges.
Sample Graduate Projects
The Graduate Projects program expands and builds upon the possibilities of senior design and offers sponsors additional flexibility in project structure, duration, and complexity.
It exposes graduate students to engineering project work, project management, systems engineering, and subsystem-level design and testing. Projects must be related to one (or more) of five graduate research focus areas:
» Astrodynamics and Satellite Navigation Systems
» Autonomous Systems
» Bioastronautics
» Fluids, Structures and Materials
» Remote Sensing, Earth and Space Science
Differences from Senior Design » Timeline - Can vary significantly, from one semester for a human spaceflight
mockup to 3 to 4 years for a flight-ready CubeSat.
» Team Size - 5 to 15 students, based on project needs.
» Must align with faculty research.
» Company sponsors may participate with the team as much or as little as desired.
» Exploratory, proof-of-concept, and design-ready products can all be quite successful as Graduate Projects.
Graduate Design How it Works
Sponsor a Project » Interested parties should email [email protected] to receive a
Notice of Intent Form and additional information on becoming a sponsor.
» Sponsor pays an infrastructure fee and receives an electronic copy of each milestone.
» Additional conditional deliverables will be based on agreement between sponsor and Smead Aerospace Engineering Sciences department.
Sponsor Benefits » Faculty-mentored student teams work on targeted company problems.
» Opportunity to interact with and assess potential future employees.
» On-the-job training for potential future employees.
» Professional mentoring of the next generation of aerospace employees.
» Support of hands-on, project-based education.
» Promote and elevate your company brand.
Sponsor Expectations » Complete a Notice of Intent form which includes high-level project requirements
negotiated with course coordinator. Must be signed by the technical contact and contractual contact.
» Review and negotiate the Project Definition Document and Conceptual Design Document with the students.
» Participate in project reviews (Preliminary Design Review, Critical Design Review, Fall Final Report, Manufacturing Status Review, Test Readiness Review and Spring Final Review).
» Understand that the primary goal is education.
The Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences is pushing the limits of aeronautics and astronautics research, designing next generation unmanned aircraft, expanding the possibilities of remote sensing, bioastronautics, and building space instruments and satellites for orbit around Earth and beyond. We are home to 56-tenure track, research, and instructional faculty, over 400 graduate students and 1,000 undergraduates.
The department houses four research centers and receives over $21 million annually in sponsored research awards. Leading research centers are in astrodynamics, structures and materials, bioastronautics, and unmanned aerial vehicles.
Dr. Jelliffe Jackson, Senior Projects Course [email protected]
Nicholas Rainville, Graduate Projects Course [email protected]
Professor Brian Argrow, Department [email protected]
Claire Yang, Undergraduate Programs and Industry Relations [email protected]
colorado.edu/aerospace
In AEROSPACE
The MinXSS CubeSat graduate project (center) flies free after leaving the CubeSat Deployer on the International Space Station (upper right).
MinXSS was designed and built by students and flew a successful, year-long mission studying solar flares and their impact on Earth’s upper atmosphere.