The 11th Student Aerospace Challenge closes as the 12th begins
Last week a team of students from the Institut Supérieur des Matériaux et Mécaniques Avancées (ISMANS) from Le Mans in France, presented their Student Aerospace Challenge project to an audience attending the 15th Reinventing Space conference in Glasgow in Scotland.
This opportunity came as a result of the students winning the ESA Grand Prix of the 11th pan-European Student Aerospace Challenge 2017. The ISMANS Space Team as they called themselves, designed the seating arrangement for a manned subortbital vehicle that allows passengers to experience the maximum amount of freedom in the microgravity phase, whilst being the most comfortable and safe in ascent and decent phases of the flight.
“We were able to present our winning project in front of scientists, researchers from all over the world, it was a fantastic opportunity. Meeting people involved in the aerospace field was a real chance for us, we were able to exchange ideas and understand the future of aerospace. The entire Ismans Space team thanks European Space Agency and our teacher Mr Craveur (without him nothing would have been possible),”said Paul-louis Delaunay.
The Student Aerospace Challenge is organized by partners from the aerospace and space sector including Dassault Aviation, Airbus Groups, Ariane Group, ESA and the Astronaute Club Européen (ACE). They have dared tertiary education student teams for the past 11 years to work on various aspects of a suborbital manned spaceflight mission. So far the competition has engaged more than 141 teams representing over 700 students.
The 12th edition of the Challenge has just been launched a few days ago. This year the partners will be looking for economically viable and environmentally friendly solutions. These criteria are becoming more and more important in aerospace projects whether they are commercial endeavours or agency programmes.
The interested European student teams can choose between 10 different Work Packages:
WP1 - Aerodynamic and Flight Control
WP2 - Structure suited to suborbital flight
WP3 - Reusable propulsion
WP4 - Cabin layout and associated equipment
WP5 - Spaceport
WP6 - Communication
WP7 - Project economy
WP8 - Legal frame and environmental rules
WP9 - Medicine
WP10 - Airworthiness
These diverse subject matters are necessary in such space missions and allow students from various educational backgrounds to be involved in this challenge.
Students wishing to participate in the Challenge need to get an oral authorisation from an official member of their university (Director, Studies Director, Professor, etc.) and apply through the ‘Application’ section of the official website. They will need to specify the selected work package and provide a cover letter describing their motivation and skills.
Key dates:
- 1 December 2017: application deadline
- 15 December 2017: deadline for submission of technical summary
- 13 May 2018: deadline for sending report and poster in an electronic form
- 12 June 2018: 'The Suborbital Day' - a special event gathering students and partners, ending the eleventh exercise of the Student Aerospace Challenge
If you are interested in becoming an Ambassador for the Challenge, you can find all the information you need at the bottom of the main page of the Student Aerospace Challenge website.
