Witnessing a rocket launch is a special occasion. Watching a rocket launch with materials you made go up into the sky is priceless.
That’s how it felt for researchers from NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, and students from Virginia Tech and the University of Central Florida as they watched a sounding rocket launch on Tuesday, May 16 from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. On board: Mars rover concepts designed by the students.
“Very few students get the opportunity to design something, put it on a NASA rocket and fly it,” said Jamshid Samareh, research engineer at NASA Langley’s Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate (SACD), who assisted the students.
Funded through NASA’s SACD Internal Research and Development (IRAD) program, the project saw more than 30 Virginia Tech students and one Central Florida student conceptualize, design and build 3-D printed test models of deployable Mars rovers.
Image Credit: NASA/Allison Stancil
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