Date of Award

Summer 2007

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering

Program/Concentration

Aerospace Engineering

Committee Director

Robert L. Ash

Committee Member

Brett Newman

Committee Member

Colin P. Britcher

Call Number for Print

Special Collections; LD4331.E535 A53 2007

Abstract

Undergraduate engineering students in Old Dominion University's Batten College of Engineering and Technology have been engaged in the design, development, testing and flight of scientific sounding rocket payloads since 2004. During that time, two payloads have flown and a third payload has nearly achieved flight-ready status. The sophistication achieved by the flight-ready payload has resulted from the evolution of a rather rigorous space system design process that requires student involvement over periods of time that are much longer than those typically associated with an -undergraduate design course sequence.

In order to acquire the expected level of definition and reliability for future orbital flight hardware, early student involvement in projects is critical. Curriculum adjustments supporting the participation of younger students in senior projects should be the first step in space systems engineering capability development. Once consistent sophomore and junior student participation is achieved, the guidelines supporting the effective team management, knowledge transfer and schedule can be better defined.

This thesis has developed a Nominal Project Timeline based on previous experimental sounding rocket payload developments. The timeline is supported with management tools describing the required team formation and design modification criteria. Guidelines, for the establishment the ODU Space Systems Library and the effective extraction, storage and transfer of knowledge gained during each semester, are also provided. Since each actual space systems engineering project will be different, there is no universal set of rules and guidelines that account for all possible contingencies. However, the intent of this thesis is to introduce sufficient discipline and rigor to enable undergraduate engineering students to experience and benefit from actual space system engineering projects while continuing to evolve significant space system engineering capabilities at Old Dominion University.

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DOI

10.25777/2m9a-3c38

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