AeroAstro Outreach Program

Women’s Graduate Association of Aeronautics and Astronautics (WGA3)

February 22, 2012

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Outreach Initiative Overview

Outreach Objectives1. Collect available materials

– General information about Engineering, AeroAstro

– Photos and videos– Lesson plans – Demos and materials

2. Create new content– Outreach “kits”– IAP course

3. Share with the community– Web repository– Outreach opportunities

Outreach Team– Farah Alibay– Allie Anderson– Hemant Chaurasia– Emily Clements– Chelsea He– Aaron Johnson– Whitney Lohmeyer– Sameera Ponda– Sunny Wicks

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Motivation & Goals

• Members of the AeroAstro community participate in a variety of outreach activities– One-time talks– Educational videos– Day-long workshops– Multi-week courses

• Materials are currently dispersed throughout the department• Little or no coordination among users• Content development is labor intensive

To facilitate coordination, we are collecting both physical and electronic content to create a repository of existing outreach materials.

1) Minimize duplicated effort2) Lower the barrier of participation3) Facilitate development of new content

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Presentations About AeroAstro, Engineering

New methods for controlling walking machines applied to JPL’s legged rover (Williams and Shah)

Reducing airport environmental impact through more efficient surface operations (Balakrishnanand Hansman)

New computational methods for real-time data assimilation (Willcox)

Shuttle tile damage and simulation of radial and conical cracks in ceramic plate impact (Radovitzky) Space propulsion systems for small

satellites: Cubesats (Lozano)

Richness in Research Breadth

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AeroAstro Photos

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Lesson Plans, Demos, Videos…

“Astronaut School for Middle Schoolers” by Hemant Chaurasia

MIT Engineering K-12 Videoshttp://techtv.mit.edu/genres/19-engineering/ videos/14880-a-turn-of-the-earth

Water Bottle Rocket Activity

Spacesuit

Quadrotor Demo

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Web Repository

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Web Repository

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Hands-On Aerospace

Mission: Introduce students to topics in AeroAstro through practical, hands-on activities.

Project Teams• Robotics: Lego Mindstorms• Aerodynamics: Portable Wind Tunnel

Expected Outcomes• Assembly of demo• Group presentation• Mini-lecture describing demo and basic concepts• Outreach “kit”

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LogisticsTimeline• 4 days: Jan 17-20

Recruitment• IAP offerings website• Email to freshmen interested in AeroAstro• Email to AeroAstro undergrads

Supplies• Robotics: 2 Lego Mindstorms kits from Prof. Hoffman• Wind tunnel: <$100 in wood, PVC, paint, other building materials

Safety • Gelb lab: all students completed online safety course (AeroAstro Safety and

Chemical Hygiene by Dick Perdichizzi)• Machine shop: graduate students only

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Students

Photo Credit: Bill Litant

L-R: Mycal Tucker ’15, Ben Novak ’15 Not pictured: Aristodimos Komninos G

L-R: Dominique Hoskins ’15, Matt Vernacchia ’15, Ellen Liverpool ’15

Robotics Team Wind Tunnel Team

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Schedule of ActivitiesJan 17: Morning Session

Welcome/Logistics Chelsea He, Sameera Ponda

Introduction to AeroAstro Prof. Julie Shah

Introduction to Robotics Prof. Jon How

Introduction to Aerodynamics Prof. Dave Darmofal

Engineering Communication/Outreach Dr. Brindha Muniappan (MIT Museum)

Jan 17: Afternoon Session

Tour of Gelb Lab/Machine Shop Todd Billings

Tour of Wind Tunnels Dick Perdichizzi

Tour of Aerospace Controls Lab Sameera Ponda

Jan 18-19: Open lab hours

Jan 20: Group presentations

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Robotics Demo• Objective: Illustrate robotics concepts via hands-on demos

– Line-Tracking Demo– Exploration and Search Missions (16.00)

• Materials: Lego Mindstorm NXT kit– Sensors (range, light, sound, touch)– Actuators (motors, LEDs)– Graphical programming (LabView)

Robotic System

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Generic Robotics Block Diagram Hands-On Aerospace: Line-Tracking Demo

Lego Mindstorm NXT Kit

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Wind Tunnel Demo• Objective: Illustrate basic aerodynamics concepts such

as lift, drag, stall using a low speed flow visualization wind tunnel– “Little Smokey” wind tunnel– Instructions from NASA:

http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/WindTunnel/build.html• Materials:

– Plywood– 2” x 4” wood– Polycarbonate sheet– Computer cooling fan– PVC pipes– Straws– Dry ice

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Summary

The Bernoulli View

● By Bernoulli's Principle, the faster flowing airstream exerts less pressure on the wing

● There is an upward force on the wing

● DEMO in wind tunnel -look for splitting airstreams

Source: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/space/lift-drag.html

Lift Forces

• Airfoil shape & orientation force air to flow faster over top side of the wing than over the bottom side of the wing

Source http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/fluids/airfoil.html

Airfoil Shape

Angle of Attack

Factors affecting Lift

• Understanding of basic aerodynamics concepts

• Mini-lecture describing demo• Basic building skills• Teamwork and camaraderie• Interaction with faculty

• Learning by doing• Sense of ownership• Low cost, high impact• Community involvement

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Outreach in Action

National Engineers Week at the MIT MuseumFebruary 20, 2012

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2012 Outreach Plan

Outreach Team:• Build up database of AeroAstro-based demos and

workshops• Demonstrate use of outreach materials in a high school

visit and a summer workshop• Repeat IAP course in 2013 to produce new demos

Faculty Homework:• Over the next months, with your students carve your

research into demos or lectures to excite the community about AeroAstro research

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Thank You!Students Faculty and Staff

Dominique Hoskins Julie Shah

Ellen Liverpool Dave Darmofal

Ben Novak Jon How

Mycal Tucker Jeff Hoffman

Matt Vernacchia Jaime Peraire

Aristodimos Komninos Karen Willcox

Chelsea He Marie Stuppard

Sameera Ponda Sue Whitehead

Sunny Wicks Bill Litant

Farah Alibay Todd Billings

Allie Anderson Dave Robertson

Hemant Chaurasia Dick Perdichizzi

Emily Clements Brindha Muniappan (MIT Museum)

Aaron Johnson

Whitney Lohmeyer wga3-exec@mit.eduhttp://web.mit.edu/wga3/www