Payload Pevelopment for Ionospheric Education and Research

Since 2009 a senior-level design project has been developed at WVU introducing STEM majors to space engineering and payload development. The students design and construct a payload which is submitted to NASA's RockSat program and, if approved, is launched on a suborbital vehicle from Wallops Flight Facility with an apogee of 125 km (above the daytime E region peak). In order to encourage participation by students from different majors and develop an interdisciplinary team, the project advisors have designed a classroom course on the fundamentals of aerospace systems engineering which complements the lab-based construction project. In the fall semester, the student team must prepare a payload design and present it to RockSat management in several design reviews. Through the academic year students need to document the development in technical reports and present them in teleconferences with RockSat and other college teams. At the end of the spring semester, the student team participates in testing and integration at Wallops and the launch is followed by data analysis and preparation of a final report. We present the educational goals, discuss the course and lab practices, and briefly go over the various experiments conducted. Finally we discuss the lessons learnt and positive outcomes of this activity for students, participating faculty, and other stakeholders.