Project Bellerophon1
5.0 About the Team
This section is about all of the 41 members of the team. Although not every member is featured in the Overview section, each of their contributionsto the report can be found in the Appendix.
We thank them for your hard work and dedication to Project Bellerophon. We commend them for a job well done and wish each of them the best of luck in the future. Boiler up!
Alan Schwing, Project Manager
Amanda Briden, Assistant Project Manager
Name / Group / Name / GroupBalta, Jerald / Propulsion / Kanehara, Jun / Trajectory
Beasley, John* / Propulsion / Lattibeaudiere, Dana / Propulsion
Bluestone, Stephen / Propulsion / Lorenzana, Timothy / Avionics
Breitengross, Scott / Trajectory / Lynam, Alfred / Dynamics & Controls
Bryan, Nichole / Avionics / Morris, Stephanie / Propulsion
Budzinski, Brian* / Aerothermal / Rhodes, Justin / Avionics
Chaney, Albert / Dynamics & Controls / Schoenbauer, Jessica / Structures
Childers, David / Structures / Shoemaker, Sarah / Structures
Chua, Daniel / Trajectory / Shurn, Stephan / Propulsion
Darby, Jason / Aerothermal / Strauss, Christopher / Aerothermal
Donahue, Kyle* / Trajectory / Stuart, Jeffrey / Dynamics & Controls
Doyle, Jessica / Structures / Teixeira, Vincent / Structures
Ferris, Bradley / Trajectory / Waite, Adam / Dynamics & Controls
Guzik, Allen / Trajectory / Walker, Michael* / Dynamics & Controls
Harkness, Elizabeth* / Trajectory / White, Brandon* / Structures
Hinton, Ricky / Propulsion / Wilcox, Nicole / Propulsion
Hiu, CJ / Structures / Woods, Alex / Aerothermal
Izzo, Steven / Structures / Yaple, Danielle* / Avionics
Kane, Molly / Structures / Zott, Jayme / Aerothermal
* This person is a group contact and act as the liaison between their group and Project Manager. Group contacts help the Project Manager set deadlines and delegate tasks.
Author: Dana Lattibeaudiere
Project Bellerophon1
Below are the profiles of each team member including what they contributed to the team, major/minor concentrations in AAE, and their plans for after graduation.
Jerald Balta
I am a member of the Propulsion group. For the project, I worked on developing the model for the balloon launch vehicle. I worked on developing a physical model as well as costing the balloon along with William Ling. I also worked on personnel costs. My major and minor areas in AAE are Propulsion and Structures respectively. As for my plans after college, I want to continue my college education withgraduate work. I want to pursue my Master's. From there, I will either pursue a doctorate or a job in industry.
John Beasley
I was the Propulsion group contact and I wrote codes to analyze solid and hybrid rocket performance (both of which werescrapped). I also helped debug various codes and research selected topics. Mymajor is Propulsion and my minor is Design. After graduation, I will be
working...a lot...for many years.
Stephen Bluestone
As a member of the propulsion group I helped in the selection of the propellants to be used and the sizing of the launch vehicle. I also performed the cost analysis for all rocket engines used in the final design. My major and minor concentrations are Propulsion and Fluid Mechanics, respectively. After completing my undergraduate degree I will attend Purdue’s GraduateSchool pursuing a masters in Aerospace engineering, either in the propulsion or systems field. Upon receiving my masters I plan to enter the propulsion industry.
Scott Breitengross
As a member of the Trajectory group, I developed the programs to calculate the DeltaV parameters, helped validate the trajectory code, and ran trajectory optimization codes for the final analysis. My major and minor areas are in Propulsion and Aerodynamics, respectively. Upon graduation I will receive my commission in the US Navy and report to Charleston, SC for Nuclear Power School.
Amanda Briden
My work was split between managerial tasks, as the Assistant Project Manager, and technical work as a member of the Trajectory group. Managerial tasks included ‘Mandy’s Motivation.’ My technical work involved helping develop the aircraft steering law and the method of optimizing it. I also completed validation analyses, including comparing trends in the change of the ballistic coefficient for historical launch vehicles to our launch vehicles. In AAE, my concentrations are Dynamics & Controls and Aerodynamics. After graduation, I am working at the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL), in Pasadena, California, in the Mission Planning Department.
Nichole Bryan
I wasa member of the Avionics group and the MAT team. I determined which electricalcomponents (other than everything dealing with telecom) to implement into our vehicle configuration. Specifically, I worked on developing the CPU, IMU, andsensor specifications, pricing these components, and made the powerbudget forthe entire launch vehicle. My major is Dynamics Control with a minor inDesign. After graduation, Iwill leave Indiana and work forRockwell Collins in a rotational program.
Brian Budzinski
I was the Aerothermal group contact. I initially began working on CFD, however,when that became time consuming,only one person worked onCFD. I also did a thorough analysis on wings and fins for an aircraft launch. Ialso ran the standard deviation calculations for drag and Cd. My major and minor areas are in Propulsion and Aerodynamics, respectively. As for after graduation plans, I am still looking for a job, however, I currently interface with bothGE and Southwest Research Institute. I eventually plan to go to graduate school.
Albert Chaney
I am a senior in AAE, majoring in Dynamics & Controlwith a minor in Propulsion, here at wonderful PurdueUniversity. I worked in the Dynamics Control group controlling the launch vehicles. My future plans include graduating in May and commissioning into the United States Air Force as a Space and Missile Officer. My first base will be Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. There I will learn a lot of things that I cannot discuss in a non-classified civilian project report.
David Childers
I was a member of the Structures group. For the project, my time and efforts were used to create code and calculations to find the center of mass for each launch vehicle as well as determining the total structures cost for each vehicle. Within AAE, my major is Structures and my minor is in Dynamics Controls. Upon graduation, I will work for Butler International.
Daniel Chua
As a member of the Trajectory group, I worked on trajectory optimization. My AAE major and minor concentrations are in Dynamics & Controls and Structures, respectively. My after graduation plans are to enroll in the National Service in Singapore.
Jason Darby
I was a part of the Aerothermal group and my responsibilities included wind tunnel testing and nose cone heating.
Kyle Donohue
I am part of the Trajectory optimization group. I worked on the weather and wind models. I also worked on the steering law for the ground launch and the balloon launch. My major is Design optimization and my minor is Dynamics & Controls. After graduation I will hopefully be working with Northrop Grumman in the Space Technology sector. I plan to go to graduate school and obtain a MSAAE in Astrodynamics.
Jessica Doyle
As a member of the Structures group, I was the ‘skirt girl’ for the team (inter-stage skirts anyway). I also helped by doing CAD work and materials research. My major is Design and my minor is Structures. After graduation, I'm getting married, moving down to Houston, TX, and working for Schlumberger in their sustaining department.
Brad Ferris
I was a member of the Trajectory group. I worked with the group to developthe computer codes necessary to produce a good launch trajectory for thelaunch vehicle. I am majoring in Propulsion, and minoring in Dynamics &Control. After graduating this May, I hope to find a position where I canwork with propulsion systems.
Allen Guzik
I worked with the Trajectory group, helping to develop a wind and atmosphere model, helped to understand the steering law, and provided other generalcoding support for the Trajectory code. I am majoring in Propulsion and minoring in Structures. For my graduation plans, I am moving to Dallas, Texas to work for L3 Communications as a stress engineer modifying aircraft.
Elizabeth Harkness
I was the Trajectory Group contact. I helped with interfacing Trajectory with the other groups, getting what we needed from them, andfinding out what they needed from us. I was also declared 'Team Mom', because of my penchant for baking cookies and bringing them to group meetings.My major concentration is Dynamics & Controls, my minor concentration is Propulsion. After graduation, I hope to get a job in the aerospace industry, hopefully working in international business and management.
Richard Hinton
I worked in the Propulsion group for the team, mainly dealing with nozzledesign, testing facilities, and helping the team wherever necessary. My major isDesign and my minor is Propulsion in AAE. After graduation, I am still decidingon whether I would like to attend graduate school or look for a job in theaerospace industry.
CJ Hiu
I worked on the structural analysis and design of the tanks and intertank couplers. Additionally, I coded the main structures function for preliminary design variants (MAT). I am also a member of the CAD team. I am a graduate student majoring in Propulsion, with a minor in Design and Mathematics. I graduated first class honors with a Bachelor of Engineering (Aerospace) from the University of New South Wales, Australia. I had worked on structural analysis of the Airbus A380 airliner and A400M military transport for 2 years. I will graduate in 2 years and I hope to work on projects involving manned missions to space.
Steven Izzo
I was part of the Structures group and worked on the mounting of the tanks and engines, buckling prevention, and final stress considerations. My major within AAE is Design and my minor is Structures. After graduation I plan on working in the aerospace industry.
Molly Kane
During the semester I was part of the Structures Group of the design team. I
worked on a wide range of structures issues including materials selection,
buckling analysis, and inert mass calculations. I will graduate in December
with a major in Propulsion and minor in Structures and Materials. After
graduation I hope to work with research and development of rocket engines.
Jun Kanehara
I was in the Trajectory group, and I mainly worked on EOM, steering laws, outputs and plots. I also compiled and formatted the main script, and I believe I got involved in almost all of the functions and scripts of the trajectory codes by either coding by myself or helping other members. My major and minor concentrations are in Propulsion and Design, respectively. I will go to a graduate school in Europe and continue studying either Astronautics in general or D&C. I got accepted to Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands so far, and I'm still waiting for the responses from other European universities as well.
Dana Lattibeaudiere
As a member of the Propulsion group, my main tasks wereto create a code that calculates the parameters of a nozzle for each stage of our launch vehicle. I also helped withresearch of mass standard deviations and worked on the team’s logo design. My major and minor concentrations are in Design and Dynamics & Controls, respectively. After graduation,I will commission as an officer in the world’s greatest, Air Force where I will serve as an Air Battle Manager and report to Tyndall Air Force Base, FL.
William Ling
In the Propulsion group, I was involved in the analysis of air launch methods. My first task was to analyze the feasibility of balloon and aircraft launches. This ultimately led to the development of a balloon design and cost model for our final design. I am an exchange student from Melbourne, Australia studying for a double degree in Science and Aerospace Engineering. My major in aerospace is Propulsion and my minor is Materials. I also have a Physics and an Astrophysics major for my science degree. After graduation, I plan to work in a technical field, eventually leading to a future administrative position. Slightly further down the line I would like to study for a post graduate degree in Business and Management.
Timothy Lorenzana
I worked within the Avionics group. My tasks included creating a usable RangeSafety subsystem and analyzing the costs associated with it. I also worked onthe Ground Tracking analysis for our launch vehicle. This used signal theory andpropagation to analyze the ground track associated with the nominal trajectoryof the vehicle. My major focus is on Structures and Materials while my minor focus is on Propulsion. My expected graduation is to take place at the conclusion of the Fall 2008 semester. After graduation, I hope to obtain work centered upon the major focusof my education, whether within the aerospace field or not. Oh, and I want to doa lot of traveling, I enjoy sightseeing (I know, I am a total tourist).
Alfred Lynam
As a member of the Dynamics & Controls group, I did a significant amount of work in aircraft dynamics and launch vehicle dynamics & controls. My undergraduate major and minor areas are in Dynamics & Controls and Propulsion, respectively. After graduation, I will enroll in the Mastersdegree Aerospace Engineering program at PurdueUniversity and my intended graduate major area is Astrodynamics with minor areas in Dynamics & Controls and Mathematics.
Stephanie Morris
I was a member of the Propulsion group and did research for the aircraftlaunch, non- catastrophic failure for hybrid propellants, and otherbasichybrid propellant information. My major concentration is in Propulsion and my minorconcentration is in Design. After graduation, in December, I plan to work in theindustry.
Justin Rhodes
As part of the Avionics group, I was responsible for researching and designing the telecommunications system for our launch vehicles. I also worked with the model analysis code, implementing a set of scripts to enable automatic processing of multiple models. During the project I also acted as webmaster, maintaining the project website and doing my best to keep everything running smoothly. I am a Dynamics & Controls major with a minor focus in advanced computing. Upon graduation I intend to start my own company, work for a few years, then run off and join the Peace Corps.
Jessica Schoenbauer
I was part of the Structures group. I worked primarily on the skirt analysis for the launch vehicle and the global buckling analysis. My major concentration is Structures and my minor is in Dynamics & Controls. I am going to spend my summer relaxing and hanging out with the family at home. Then I will be back in West Lafayette for the next year.
Alan Schwing
I served as Project Manager for Project Bellerophon. My role involved coordinating the 41-person team and I dabbled in a little bit of everything, though my chief responsibilities were risk and cost. My major is Aerospace and my minor is Propulsion. After graduation, I will work at NASA's JohnsonSpaceCenter in the Applied Aeroscience & CFD Branch.
Sarah Shoemaker
As a member of the Structures group, I helped with the initial compiling of the materials and cost for the fuselage of the launch vehicle. I also did some initial analysis on the mounting of the payload and the avionics. I helped with the design of the gondola-balloon configuration and I developed the CAD of the gondola and the balloon for each payload. My major area is Structures and my minor area is Design. After graduation I plan to attend OfficerCandidateSchool for the Marines. After OCS I plan to get commissioned and attend flight school and become a helicopter pilot.
Stephan Shurn
I worked within the Propulsion group. I looked atrail gun feasibility and LITVC/Gimbaling for the engines. My major areawithin AAE is Propulsion with a design minor. After graduation, I willcommission into the Air Force and enter Combat Systems Officer training atRandolph Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas.
Christopher Strauss
I created the initial sizing function used by the team until a more accurate model was created. I also helped with CFD analysis in Fluent and CMARC and created the method for calculating the drag standard deviation for riskassessment. My AAE major and minor concentrations are in Propulsion and Aerodynamics, respectively. After graduation plans: not sure yet, but NASA MarshallSpaceFlightCenter is looking promising.
Jeffery Stuart
I am a member of the Dynamics & Controls and CAD groups, primarily working on spin stabilizing the third stage, the physical mechanisms of thrust vector control (TVC), and integration of the full launch vehicle CAD models. My major and minor areas are Dynamics & Controls and Design. After graduation, I will attend graduate school for Astrodynamics. My overall career plans are to work on mission design for human spaceflight and robotic interplanetary missions, with the goal of someday joining the astronaut corp of NASA or a civilian agency.
Vincent Teixeira
As a member of the Structures group, my contribution to the design team consisted primarily of the design and analysis of the nose cone, "Sarah" as well as the accompanying CAD. Due to the joy of transfer credits, I do not actually have a specific major/minor within Aerospace engineering. After finally graduating in May, I will be attending Officer Candidate School (OCS) for the US Marine Corps.
Adam Waite