7/22/2023 0 Comments Space engineers jettison cargoSomeone trained me, and now it’s my turn to teach others.” The idea is similar to that of a teaching hospital, says SERC engineering technician Jeffrey Sachs, who worked for 26 years at Hughes Aircraft before joining the center. Since LA is both the birthplace and current hub to cutting-edge aerospace development, “this gives USC students a leg up because of what we can learn just from being surrounded by this community.” “Sending a craft into space and not having it be a tumbling piece of junk is one of the most difficult feats to accomplish,” he says. Pieter Kranenburg ’13 says working on Aeneas has been uniquely rewarding. “Testing things before fight-that’s where you break things. “I want to work a full life cycle of a project and take a lead role, and that’s something I wouldn’t have known about before SERC,” he says. Ortega’s experiences working on an innovative lunar lander at SERC facilities at USC’s Information Sciences Institute in Marina del Rey, Calif., make him want to seek out a job as engineering lead in fight operations or systems operations. “It’s the things they are working on that week at work.” “It’s not stale academics to them,” says Michael Ortega ’13. The students say that their experiences working with professors and guest teachers from different space groups-from SpaceX to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory-make learning fresh. “We keep very intense and close ties with industry to create training that’s exactly what they want,” says Kunc, professor of astronautics, aerospace engineering, physics and astronomy. Kunc points out that the center is nimble enough to move as industry changes direction, so students are prepared for different projects. They learn from industry engineers who come to USC from local firms. Students who work with SERC get a unique experience by building and testing equipment and systems that will actually fly in space. You work on the power, on the engine system, then on the communication system and so forth.” “The reason industry likes it so much is that when the students enter the labor force, they have been trained to work on all subsystems in a rotating manner. In 2006, SERC grew out of a need for hands-on training for the aerospace industry, says Joseph Kunc, the center’s director. As the space industry moves toward building smaller, cheaper and smarter projects that draw on the creative thinking of engineering minds, USC is uniquely poised to jettison graduates into a brave new space world. But one requirement of the industry remains constant: its need for skilled and highly trained engineers who dream of shooting their ever-more-powerful handiworks into space.īefore economic belt-tightening hit the field, it cost $6 million just to build a satellite and $20 million to launch it. The local space industry has changed dramatically since the Cold War, as large companies with military ties have gotten leaner and adventurous private firms such as SpaceX, in El Segundo, Calif., have moved in. Part of SERC’s strength comes from its location in Los Angeles, historically a hub of aerospace and astronautics. that offers bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in astronautical engineering, and SERC drives innovation by giving young engineers the tools to put their fresh ideas into practice. Only a few universities nationwide could host this kind of student-driven space project. In lines of code, the satellite sends back its rudimentary heartbeat and vitals in a series of six messages. My batteries are OK,’ ” says Barrett, associate director of USC’s Space Engineering Research Center (SERC). “It’s talking to us, telling us, ‘I’m alive. With a blip on the screen, accompanied by a modem screech, the satellite comes through. As Barrett waits for it, Aeneas (named after the Trojan warrior who personifies duty and courage, naturally) already has flown for more than nine months. “And one of these days it’s going to stop talking to us.” After all, three months is generally considered the lifespan of a CubeSat, a satellite about the volume of a quart-sized carton of milk. “Every day is a new day,” Barrett says with a laugh. The antenna is following a miniaturized satellite called Aeneas-a USC student project built with both purchased of-the-shelf and custom-made circuits-that’s about to pass overhead in low earth orbit, beaming down its digital vital signs. A few feet away, a 10-foot parabolic tracking antenna pointed skyward starts to swivel. “It’s coming in two minutes,” he warns, furiously typing into one of three laptops precariously balanced on the wheeled desk in the alley behind his Playa del Rey home. ![]() ![]() Tim Barrett is crouched over a desk in his garage with a countdown in his head.
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