News Conference to be Held 07-03-08 Cirrus-UND Space-flight Simulator

News Conference on UND Partnership with Cirrus on Space-flight Simulator Is Wednesday, July 2

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – Cirrus Design Corp. will play host to a press conference at its Grand Forks plant at 10 a.m. Wednesday, detailing the beginning construction of a horizontal space-flight simulator to be used by the University of North Dakota’s John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences.

When operational, the simulator will give North Dakota students and select visitors the opportunity to use software that simulates a spaceflight by either a NASA space shuttle, an X-15 or the pioneering personal commercial spacecraft, SpaceShipOne. UND students and Cirrus professionals were involved in the construction of the simulator, whose design was based of the personal commercial spaceflight Ansari X-Prize winner.

“Aside from working on a project in the field of aerospace, and the obvious excitement from helping replicate a design that won the X-Prize, the project has allowed both Cirrus and UND an opportunity to showcase our respective talents,” said Tom Haggy, Director, Grand Forks Operations for Cirrus Design Corporation.

The principal investigator for the simulator’s construction, UND Space Studies research associate Pablo de Leon, said, “UND would be the only university with this combination of simulation software packages. This opportunity will pave the way for UND to have training for private spaceflight crews in the future.”

The project was funded in part by the North Dakota Space Grant Consortium. Suezette Bieri, Deputy Director of North Dakota Space Grant Consortium, said, “Cirrus agreed to give workspace, expertise and materials to help us construct the simulator, which will be the first horizontal simulator made like SpaceShipOne in a university.”

Students involved in the project included Emily Chwialkowski, a UND Space Studies graduate student, and Luke Sandbeck-Moriarty and Tyler Jacobson, both UND undergraduate engineering students.

Both the media and the general public are invited to attend.

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Peter Johnson
Media Relations Coordinator
Office of University Relations
University of North Dakota
P.O. Box 7144
Grand Forks, ND 58202
(701) 777-4317
FAX: (701) 777-4616
peterjohnson@mail.und.nodak.edu
www.und.edu/news