John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences

News and information from the UND John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences.

Thesis Proposal by Nanette Valentour on May 4th

Space Studies master’s student, Nanette Valentour, will present her thesis proposal on Friday, May 4th.  All Space Studies students and faculty are encouraged to attend.

When:  Friday, May 4, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. (Central Daylight Savings Time)

Where:  Ryan Hall, Room 111

Title: “Design of a Controlled Descent Lifting Body Glider for High Altitude Payload Recovery

About the topic: The purpose of this research is to demonstrate if a lifting body scaled model can be used as a recovery method for high altitude ballooning payloads. Current recovery techniques consist of monitoring and chasing the payload signal until it can be recovered. It is expected that a lifting body glider can reduce the distance for payload recovery and in some cases effectively return the payload back to the Ground Station. A computational aerodynamic model of the vehicle was designed using MATLAB and the Vortex Lattice Method. Fabrication of a solid foam model will be performed at the Kennedy Space Center foam prototype shop, which will become the mold for the composite vehicle. The glider will then be integrated with a separately developed navigation system and subsequently undergo initial flight testing. The vehicle will be designed to be reusable, allowing for multi-launch use with the ability for the operator to modify the payload to permit for various high altitude experimentation.

About the presenter:   Nanette Valentour is a second year graduate student studying human spaceflight with a bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics from the University of Cincinnati. While this research is on a small-scale, she hopes to gain an understanding of the flight conditions and dynamics of the reentry and descent aspects of the vehicles that will soon be used to fly astronauts to and from Earth.

******Those unable to attend in person may view the live webcast******

1)      A simple live webcast will be available here.

2)      Via Adobe ConnectPro.  Sign in as a guest, or use your Connect-Pro log-in.