SU aerospace engineering students to take off on a Dec. 4 exploration mission to Mars

SU aerospace engineering students to take off on a Dec. 4 exploration mission to MarsDecember 02, 2003Kelly Homan Rodoskikahoman@syr.edu

A semester’s worth of work will culminate on Thursday, Dec. 4 for freshman aerospace engineering students in Syracuse University’s L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science. During a grand finale event, which will take place from 6-9 p.m. in Room 132 of SU’s Lyman Hall, students in Professor John Dannenhoffer’s Introduction to Engineering and Computer Science (ECS 101) class will introduce the Mars rover prototypes that they have designed throughout the semester.

The teams will each have three minutes to execute a “landing”–on a simulated Martian landscape built by Dannenhoffer-during which time they must demonstrate their ability to harvest Martian rocks and to deploy scientific instruments. The mission will be scored based on the success of the assigned tasks.

Students began working on the rovers, which are constructed from LEGO MindstormsO kits, in late August. They were guided through the design process by Dannenhoffer’s lectures and assignments that focused on brainstorming, conceptual and detailed design, model development, manufacturing process development, and oral and written reporting.