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Volume 17, Issue 2 Summer 2018 2018 Galaxy Forum travels with Juno to Jupiter, puts eyes on the Sun GALAXY FORUM Is this giant planet the story of our Also speaking will be Dr. Thomas E. Cra- solar system? Good question and part vens of KU, whose 30-year career in • August 11 of the Juno spacecraft’s mission. Two astrophysics has included work with speakers will delve into that at the Ad NASA’s Pioneer, Maven, Cassini and Juno • At The Astra Kansas Foundation’s 2018 Gal- missions, as well as theoretical modeling Cosmosphere axy Forum. This free event for the of atmospheres and ionospheres of Jupi- 1100 N. Plum public will be held Saturday, Aug. 11 at ter’s and other planets’ moons. Solar Hutchinson The Cosmosphere from 1-3 p.m. wind interaction with planetary bodies • 1-3 p.m. is another of his research specialties. • Free “[Current theory is] that Jupiter • Open to formed behind (just after) our Sun. At Speaking of the Sun—exploration of it teachers, one time Jupiter and the Sun were will be the other topic at the Galaxy students, two big masses competing for domi- Forum. WSU physics grad student Caleb astronomers of nance. The hope is that by under- Gimar will give an overview of what we know, what we want to know and high- all kinds and standing how Jupiter formed, we might better answer how the solar system light two solar projects—the soon-to-be- the interested formed,” says Stephen Houston, one launched Parker Solar Probe and the public of the speakers at this year’s forum. NASA Innovative Advanced Concept project recently awarded to WSU to Houston, a native of Tribune, is a design a neutrino spacecraft to study the fourth-year grad student in plasma solar interior. Gimar is part of that team. physics at KU who has been working INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Top to bottom: Stephen Houston, with NASA and Johns Hopkins Applied This annual event is sponsored by the Ad Dr. Thomas Cravens, Physics Lab on data from the Juno Astra Kansas Foundation with the gener- 2018 Randall 2 Caleb Gimar / photo spacecraft since it arrived at Jupiter in ous cooperation of The Cosmosphere. credits: KU and WSU Chambers award physics websites 2016. winner Interested in 2 Kansas astronaut will launch to Inter- rocketry? national Space Station in October KU students to 3 launch KUbeSat Born in Belleville, grew up in Hoxie—1994 Hoxie High School graduate Tyler (Nick) Hague has come a long way to his current assignment as a Cosmosphere 3 flight engineer on the ISS Expedition 57/58 crew which will launch Octo- features free ber 11. The Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft will launch from the Baikonur Cos- documentaries for modrome in Kazakhstan. teachers The six-month mission (returning April 2019) will include 300+ research In memoriam 3 experiments and technology demonstrations not possible on Earth, increasing science knowledge for humanity’s benefit on Earth and to help enable future long-duration exploration into deep space. Credits: NASA bio / official Expedition 57 logo He will also be aboard during the expected first flights of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which will resume launches of human spaceflight from U.S. soil.

Hague, a colonel in the U.S. Air Force, earned a bachelor’s in astronautical engineering from the U.S.A.F Academy in 1998 and a master’s in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from M.I.T. in 2000. He was selected as one of eight members of the NASA 2013 astronaut training class. The two-year candi- date training included scientific and technical briefings, intensive instruction in ISS systems, spacewalks, Russian Language training, robotics, psychological training, T-38 flight training, water and wilderness sur- vival training. Follow Hague on social media at: https://twitter.com/AstroHague Page 2 Ad Astra Kansas News—Summer 2018

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The winner of the AAKF’s 2018 Ad Astra Kansas Award at the WSU College of Engineering Open House this spring, Team K.I.S.S., is the first-ever team to represent Wichita State University at NASA’s Student Launch rocket competition.

The team designed, built, tested and flew a high-powered rocket for the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center competition in Huntsville, Ala. The rocket launches to an apogee altitude of one mile above ground and uses a dual-deployment parachute system to allow for retrieval in reusable condition. After a successful landing, a custom-designed autonomous rover deploys from the rocket and moves away from the vehicle carrying a set of foldable solar panels. During the eight-month process, the team followed the NASA engineering project lifecycle, preparing reports and presentations covering the preliminary design, critical design and flight readiness phases for a panel of NASA engineers. The team advisor is Dr. L. Scott Miller. Aerospace engineering senior Mohamed Moustafa The team also engaged K-12 students in hands-on STEM activities and model rocket launches at receives his team’s award Minneha Elementary and Christa McAuliffe Academy in Wichita and Victoria High School in Victoria. from Dean Bowden. Photo courtesy of WSU To date more than 250 students have been impacted.

Interested in rocketry? Check these out...

KLOUDBUSTERS is a High Launch sites are in the Ellinwood, good idea about the program Power Rocketry organization with LaCrosse and Hutchinson areas. at the Space Tech Exhibit a launch site near Argonia in south- KOSMO is chartered with the which will be at 4-H Centennial central Kansas. The site is unique National Association of Rocketry. Hall at the Kansas State Fair on because of the altitude of its FAA For info, go to www.kosmo427.org September 7-16. “One will see launch waiver (up to 50,000 feet). about 125 rockets ranging from KLOUDBUSTERS hosts monthly Teeniemunde Rocketry Club: six inches to six feet tall there,” Fun Fly launches and three major This group offers High Power Rock- said Waldren. launches a year. Tripoli Rocketry etry in southeast Kansas and south- Association and National Associa- west Missouri. The club is a mem- Rocketry is a fun educational tion of Rocketry adult members are ber of the Tripoli Rocketry Associa- project...it’s a real adrenaline Source: KLOUDBUSTERS invited to participate as high power tion, for more info, go to rush to be able to do,” said flyers; youth under 18 are allowed www.teeniemunde.org Waldren, whose extension to launch model rockets at all office is in Colby. For more launches and spectators are wel- Kansas Space Tech—Offered by info, go to Space Tech or e- come. The next major launch will the Kansas 4-H organization since mail [email protected] be AIRFest 24 held Aug. 31-Sept. 3. 1996, this program includes five For details, launch and other info, categories: rocketry, robotics, The 4-H program is open to go to www.kloudbusters.org computers, astronomy and un- every child aged 7-19 in every manned aerial vehicles (drones). county in Kansas as part of K- KOSMO (Kansas State Research and Extension. Organization for Currently, 2000 Kansas kids partic- Not every county may offer Spacemodeling): ipate in the Space Tech Program, Space Tech, but every county This club is open to according to Deryl Waldren, the K- has a 4-H organization. One all ages and all ex- State 4-H specialist for Space Tech. can find out if Space Tech is perience levels. It offered by contacting their holds six to seven The program encompasses all ages local extension office. launches a year. (7-19) and all levels. One can get a Courtesy of KOSMO Volume 17, Issue 2 Page 3

KU mini-satellite launch is on the horizon

LAWRENCE—Madison Sargent aboard a Russian rocket. The rock- has always had an eye to the et’s failure doomed the effort. stars. And now she is reaching out to them. It’s a big project, but the satellites are small. According to NASA, Published through the The University of Kansas junior CubeSats are built in units of . Ad Astra Initiative of in aerospace engineering is lead- 10x10x10 centimeters (about 4 KU News credit: Photo Space Age Publishing Company ing an effort to put a tiny satellite inches square). Payloads can be up 230 California Avenue #108 from Kansas into space—part of to six units in size, weighing about Palo Alto, CA 94306 NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initia- 26.5 pounds. This is a hard project, but the stu- tive (CLSI) that launches small dents will learn that details are payloads beyond Earth’s atmos- The KU group’s six-unit payload will what matter. “In developing a phere. The students’ proposal carry four instruments: a cosmic spacecraft, you can never settle for has been selected for launch in ray detector; a device to measure mediocrity. Space does not for- 2019. South Pole ice sheet thickness, and give,” said Villa. an astrobiology project with KU Editor/Publisher: Steve Durst Sargent, who is from Prairie biologists that will carry bacteria Having interned at several aero- [email protected] Village, and her team are working space companies, and though she Managing Ed: Jeanette Steinert and fungi for further study in part- [email protected] with KU alum Marco Villa nership with K-12 students. A appreciates the growing commer- cial side of the space industry, Sar- Webmaster: Ken Moum (aerospace engineering master’s fourth instrument, an “energetic Topeka Liaison: Jodi Spindler in 2002 and doctorate in 2005). particle detector,” is sponsored by gent hopes one day to work for He is now CEO of Tyvak Inter- Fundamental Technologies, a Law- NASA. “NASA stays true to what national, a nanosatellite company rence company specializing in space- it is to explore space and really in Italy. related projects. focus on science.”

Villa is a good resource—while Kansas is one of the few states that Sargent will give a presentation at at KU he led one of the universi- does not have a satellite in space the 2018 Ad Astra Kansas Space Board of Directors ty’s first efforts to launch a satel- under the CLSI program. Celebration on October 13 in lite under the CLSI program. In Topeka. President: Jeanette Steinert Vice-President: Ken Moum 2006, a KUbeSat was scheduled Secretary: Nick Solomey to be launched from Kazakhstan In Memoriam... Treasurer: Vicki Johnson Steve Durst With sadness we relay the passing of a past Craig McLaughlin Teachers can see president of our foundation, Dr. Thomas P. Kay Neill free educational Armstrong, on June 2 in Lawrence. documentaries ...

“I am a child of the Cold War and the Space Race,” he once said. “I grew up on a farm

...at the Cosmosphere until [near Atchison] with dark skies and enjoyed photo File Aug. 31. It’s a thank-you from watching Sputnik go over, and responded to the Cosmosphere to teachers President Eisenhower’s call to get interested in science and catch up for all their hard work. with the Russians.”

Topics include history, nature, He certainly did that. For more than forty years, as a professor and technology as well as space. researcher at KU and as a co-owner of Fundamental Technologies, Armstrong was on the cutting edge of space physics, space instru- We’re on the web! For info contact mentation and software. He co-designed the Voyager spacecraft in the 1970s and remained a co-investigator until his health failed in and [email protected] facebook Other links: recent years. He worked with over 13 different spacecraft operating Illustration source: WSU Now showing for more than 175 years in space, including Mariner, Galileo, Ulysses, aerospace engineering Teachers’ thank-you Cassini and the Van Allen Probe. website.

BRIGHT IDEA! Come see He taught and mentored countless young scientists who work around both the documentary “Space the world today. He enjoyed sharing his knowledge with students of Next” and our Galaxy Forum any age. And was beloved by all. on Aug. 11! Ad Astra. Godspeed, Tom Armstrong. Reach out to us at:

INTERSTELLAR R & D [email protected] Will return in Fall 2018 issue