IET sponsors the first student mission to the Moon
Universities across Europe are working on specific projects related to the satellite, which will eventually all come together to create an orbiter ready to send into space. Dr William Crofts, the principal teaching fellow at Warwick’s School of Engineering heard about the mission back in 2006 and worked alongside Southampton University’s astronautics research group. They put together a power proposal for the project, which was sent to the European Space Agency’s (ESA): the organisation which gave birth to, and now oversees, the entire project.
Warwick’s concept for an electrical power supply for propulsion was picked up, with Southhampton moving onto a different part of the project, and since then Croft has been working with student teams at the university to design and build the final system.
Currently in its third year, students which excel in this area are chosen to work on ESMO as their final year project, and so the team changes with every academic year. Phase A, the feasibility study has now been completed. This focused on the options and power requirements needed through analysis and simulation. Now in Phase B, this year’s team has begun work on modeling and prototyping.
Students become part of the ESMO team
The main opportunities begin for third year students, when individual projects related to the ESMO work are offered. Students who take these projects become part of the Warwick ESMO team, and are then able to progress onto the main fourth year project with a strong position of prior knowledge.
The heart of the team is a fourth year undergrad project group made up of students that have typically specialised in electronic, mechanical and systems engineering, and 25 per cent of the year’s course credit comes from work on this project.
Jez Banks is working towards his MEng in Mechanical Engineering, and has found working on the project highly rewarding.
“My responsibilities include the mechanical design of the Electrical Power System (EPS), thermal analysis: heat transfer from components to the EPS box, and structural considerations to name but a few,” he says. “I’ve been working on some interesting engineering problems.”
Links with organisations can lead to jobs
Alongside the IET, many companies are also sponsoring Warwick ESMO, and these university/company links are now being extended into related research projects, which have led to jobs for students within these companies in addition to postgrad opportunities.
Croft continues by further highlighting the opportunities this project offers his student teams.
“ESMO students get the opportunity to work with the ESA’s engineering specialists,” he says.
“The ESA has recruited an excellent range of top class companies who are sponsoring the project in one form or another, so the students also get links to them. By the nature of the project itself, the team has to link with all the other subsystem teams to know what their power requirements are etc. This often includes going to workshops at the ESA’s research and development centre in Holland, where they meet members of the other subsystem teams, and discuss the overall designs and requirements and so on.”
Students experience every aspect or a real project
“The team get the full experience of having a real project with real deliverables, not just writing a report and handing it in to be marked. They have to handle quite a large budget, manage a team etc. There’s every element of what a real world project,” he enthuses.
“(Career-wise, I benefit by gaining) experience with a professionally equipped and managed international project, and I’ve gained contacts with the ESA and various sponsors,” adds Banks. “I’ve also had the opportunity to work outside my engineering field and develop new skills in electronic design.”
Of course, in these early stages the students move on without getting the see their work come to fruition. However, Croft’s has made sure that there’s a site for all those who’ve worked as part of Warwick ESMO to keep in touch and see the progress.
There’s an ESMO email system for those who want to interact and continue to offer their input and knowledge in addition to regular newsletters for updates and eventually to let the entire team know of the launch date. This is not yet set in stone, but the aim is for ESMO to be sent into space in either 2011 or 2012.
NASA behind a student mission
Interestingly, NASA has also picked up on this idea of a ‘student mission’, and it is now working on an American Student Moon Orbiter (ASMO).
“The potential plan - if they get theirs up and running in time – is that both satellites will be launched on the same Arianne rocket, with the potential then of both being in orbit around the moon at the same time, and setting up the first space internet,” Crofts says. Let the space race begin.
