UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO
STUDENT CHAPTER
Project Teams
AIAA @ UCSD will be organising project teams to work on competitions hosted by National Institute of Aerospace on behalf of NASA(complete with cash prizes, internship opportunities, and invitations to NASA project panels!). This is an opportunity to meet fellow aerospace enthusiasts, and build community. Anyone is welcome to join! Registration is now closed, and results are now out!
Team HuLC
This competition asks you to innovate technology that can aid Human Landing Systems on other planets. It doesn't always ask you to develop a whole landing system, but rather anything that could make the process of landing on another planet easier. This year's theme is Lunar Communications.
This team will be focusing on the Human Lander Project. Your job will be coming up with and developing a plan for technology dedicated to reliable lunar & cislunar communications infrastructure- with hope for future adaptation to communicate as far as Mars.
All majors are welcome! The competition has three focuses that ask for more than just aerospace & mechanical engineering expertise.
★ Hardware
Space-Rated Wireless Networks and Electronics
Antenna Signal Propagation, Modeling, and Environmental Mitigation
★ Software
Data Efficiency and Link Optimization
Network Management and Scheduling
★ Architecture
Surface Comm System Architecture
Orbital Comm System Architecture
Team RASC-AL
This competition asks you to come up with tech, or reapplication of existing ones, that'll help humanity build a Lunar Base. What do you think you could add to make it easier to build, live in, sleep in, or move around?
This team will be focusing on RASC-AL. Their main concern is improving NASA's ability to build the Moon Base. Their focus isn't only on construction though - any technology that could not only help build the Moon Base, but possibly enable more bases in different locations in harsher conditions, such as the freezing cold lunar South Pole. This means innovating for both initial construction, and livability for the astronauts who'll eventually have to live there.
All majors are welcome! The competition has four main themes that ask for more than just aerospace & mechanical engineering expertise.
★ Enabling Extreme Exploration
★ Transit Pathway Construction
★ Lunar Resource Exploration
★ Smart/Resilient Lunar Habitat
Team Blueskies
This competition focuses on aviation. This year's topic asks how aircraft could inspect infrastructure on land. Things like electrical grids aren't always safe enough to inspect on foot without a shutdown- how would you make it safe enough to inspect something like that from the air?
This team's focus is Gateway to Blue Skies. Here, your goal is to come up with a cost effective, and reliable way to regularly inspect things like power grids and highways, without needing to touch the ground. You'll need to find a specific use case, develop your targeted method of inspection, and tell us how you'll implement it!
All majors are welcome! Here are some key pieces of infrastructure you might like to focus on:
★ Mobility & Transportation
Roads, highways, land bridges, overpasses, terrestrial tunnels, railway networks, and public transit systems.
★ Utilities & Public Works
Power grids, electrical substations, land-based water treatment plants, inland dams/reservoirs, and telecommunications towers.
★ Economic & Industrial Assets
Warehouses, freight terminals, logistics hubs, and commercial or industrial buildings.