Community Spotlight Community Spotlight: Three Teams of USF Engineering Students Selected for National Competition at NASA in August

TAMPA — For many engineering students the opportunity to work with NASA scientists and astronauts is the opportunity of a lifetime. Three teams of University of South Florida students will get that chance in August as finalists in the Micro-g NExT Challenge.

The national competition challenges students to design, build and test a tool or device that addresses a current space exploration problem. Out of more than 100 teams who entered the competition, only 19 were selected for the test operations, and three of the 19 are teams from USF.

The USF students prepared proposals for the competition as an assignment for a Bioastronautics class, a mixed graduate and undergraduate course. The teams are designing tools that will allow astronauts to collect and store rock chips from “microgravity bodies” (asteroids). The selected USF teams are: “Bulls in Space”, “Precision Astro Geo” and “The Rock Biters”.

The teams will compete the week of Aug. 3 in Houston, Texas where scientists and astronauts will test and evaluate their space tool prototypes in the Johnson Space Center’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory.

“We value these kinds of opportunities from NASA and other organizations that engage our students and encourage hands-on creativity, design and team project work,” said Robert H. Bishop, dean of the College of Engineering.  “It exposes students to professional work experiences which gives them a competitive edge when they seek full time employment after graduation.”

While at NASA, scientists and astronauts will evaluate use of the student-developed prototype devices during underwater sampling events designed to mimic a spacewalk on an asteroid. The week-long visit will also provide students opportunities to collaborate with scientists, astronauts, fellow competitors and explore careers with NASA.

“As a senior mechanical engineering student, it is very rewarding to be able to incorporate all I have learned at USF and apply it through an engineering design process with an ultimate goal of NASA using our designs,” says Tyler Isaacs, senior mechanical engineering student and member of the Bulls in Space team. “I look forward to traveling to Johnson Space Center and am very excited to see our tool design be tested live in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory.”

The final outcome for this challenge could lead to the possibility of NASA manufacturing models of the devices for future space missions, including the Asteroid Redirect Mission. While NASA is sponsoring the challenge, they are not underwriting the cost of travel or living expenses during the teams’ five-day stay. The USF teams are collaborating to obtain the funds necessary for final fabrication of their devices and their travel to Houston.