College of Engineering and Computing
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When we say students at Missouri University of Science and Technology develop the skills and experiences necessary to conduct “out-of-this-world” research, we mean it literally.
I am thrilled to share that S&T’s first student-designed satellite was recently launched into space aboard a SpaceX rocket.
Our alumni have supported NASA since the
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space agency’s early days. Dr. Farouk El-Baz, a Missouri S&T geology and geophysics alumnus, was secretary general of the Apollo program’s Lunar Landing Site Selection Committee, which determined the sites for all six lunar landing missions from 1969-1972. Electrical engineering alumnus George Mueller was involved in the Apollo missions as NASA’s associate administrator of the Office of Manned Space Flight, and Ron Epps, a physics alumnus, spent his entire career with NASA and retired in 2005 as chief of the flight design and dynamics division.
Three Missouri S&T alumni have also been astronauts. Dr. Sandra Magnus, who studied electrical engineering and physics, spent over four months on the International Space Station, and she was aboard NASA’s final space shuttle mission in 2009. Col. Tom Akers, an applied mathematics alumnus, spent more than 29 hours space walking and 800 hours in orbit in the 1990s. Dr. Janet Kavandi, who studied chemistry at S&T, orbited the Earth 535 times during her 33-plus days in space and later served as director of the NASA Glenn Research Center.
Today, our faculty are conducting research across a wide spectrum of areas beneficial to space exploration. This includes everything from developing new materials and performance improvements for hypersonic vehicles to lunar mining to spacecraft propulsion — and countless other topics in-between. S&T students regularly assist in these projects, take on their own NASA projects, and participate in award-winning design teams, including the Mars Rover and Rocket teams.
Missouri S&T’s influence has soared far beyond the Earth’s atmosphere, and we are proud to help shape the future by continuing this tradition. I hope you will enjoy learning even more about our recent space-focused news and accomplishments highlighted below.
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Student-designed satellite launched into space
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A Missouri S&T student-designed satellite is now in space and revolving around the Earth. Check out our video to learn more about the mission.
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Grandfather, grandson both shoot for the moon
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In the 1960s, Donald Beinart, a Missouri S&T alumnus, helped create flight simulation systems for NASA’s Project Gemini, which was a precursor to the Apollo program’s manned lunar landings. Almost six decades later, his grandson, Matt Klosterman, who is also a Missouri S&T alumnus, played a role in the country’s first lunar landing since the Apollo program came to an end.
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S&T alumnus part of India's lunar landing
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“In 1997, I asked if it was possible for me to become a doctoral student in Rolla,” says Dr. Radhakant Padhi. “About two decades later, I was asked by ISRO to explore and develop the best guidance methods for having a safe and soft landing on the moon, which our country accomplished last year."
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S&T researcher to lead $7.5 million DOD project
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“This project is focused on temperatures encountered in extreme environments such as those associated with hypersonic flight, atmospheric re-entry, rocket propulsion, concentrated solar power and nuclear power generation,” says Dr. William Fahrenholz, Curators’ Distinguished Professor of ceramic engineering.
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Could blue-green algae lead to humans’ sustained presence on the moon?
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A group of student researchers from Missouri S&T thinks so, and their Lunar Biotech team’s project was recognized for having one of the top innovations at the Lunar Life Odyssey challenge, sponsored by Jacobs Space Exploration Group — one of NASA’s primary contractors.
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College of Engineering and Computing
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Missouri University of Science and Technology
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