2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

In an Engineering Technology (ET) program with 5 different concentrations, it is not possible to cover the detailed theory and applications of all high-level classes that are taught in a dedicated single discipline engineering technology program. Through support from space grant consortia, that are annually funded by NASA to develop and implement student fellowships and scholarships programs, many research projects are tailored to equip students with necessary knowledge and skills that are not normally covered in regular classes. In this paper, a grant from the Louisiana Aerospace Catalyst Experiences for Students (LaACES) program is used to supplement the experience of a team of senior engineering technology students with 3 different concentrations (mechanical, computer, and mechatronics). The team will go through 2 semesters of training, hands-on activities, design, building, and testing to finally produce a 500-gram battery-powered payload (MegaSat) that will be launched to an altitude of 100,000 ft to measure weather parameters during the ascending and descending trip. The MegaSat will also measure the amount of solar energy that can be collected during the trip and the possibility of utilizing it to power the MegaSat partially or fully in future trips. The experience includes building circuits from scratch through prototyping, soldering surface mount electronic components, testing and troubleshooting, calibration and analyzing error in measurement and propagation of uncertainty. In addition, students will utilize data acquisition and analog to digital conversion techniques with Arduino microcontrollers and custom shields to read and save data collected during the trip to an SD card. Among many other skills, students will learn and practice teamwork skills, project documentation, professional reporting and presentation, project management, planning, cost analysis, risk management, and failure analysis. Along with these learning outcomes, students will analyze the collected data and compare results to theoretical values, when available, and present their findings before a panel of professionals. The acquired experience will be presented with examples and partial results of the project.