Rocket science: Students land opportunity to create inflatable lunar pad for NASA

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<div class="block block--renovationcustom-innovation-asu-news-system-main block--system-main"> <article data-history-node-id="102198" class="node node--promoted asu-news-article asu-news-article--full"> <div class="layout__fixed-width"> <div class="bg-top bg-percent-100 max-size-container center-container"> <div class="container"> <div class="row"> <div class="col-12"> <div class="layout__region layout__region--first"> <div class="block"> </div> <div class="views-element-container block"> <div> <div class="view js-view-dom-id-6cd16bc034f66c10c14eba00e97fde01b74dbe77d2b17287e5f604e236213f11 view-is-it-a-thrive-article"> <div class="view-content"> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="views-element-container block"> <div> <div class="node-body-category view js-view-dom-id-7290777043ac7b260c0849aba7d93d0e7e0a6bc3edba939cdfaeeef0b47100db view-theme-asu-now-article"> <div class="view-content"> <div> <a href="https://news.asu.edu/saf/science-and-technology" class="btn btn-tag btn-gat-alt-white">Science and technology</a> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="views-element-container block"> <div> <div class="node-body-title view js-view-dom-id-d6e13aa06e820dd73e7ce9d05e404a73f8e6e1fe2d28512e15bee2fa63d8303a view-theme-asu-now-article"> <div class="view-content"> <div class="views-row"> <div><h1>Rocket science: Students land opportunity to create inflatable lunar pad for NASA</h1></div><div><p class="article-teaser">Project part of the NASA BIG Idea Challenge</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="views-element-container block"> <div> <div class="view js-view-dom-id-8b88b14374611ccda011bf4b184da6ff4a7d13a430c4afc1990a5904073d9ef4 view-theme-asu-now-article"> <div class="view-content"> <div class="views-row"> <hr /> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="views-element-container block"> <div> <div class="node-body-image view js-view-dom-id-5da0364cf3fbdb64db598fdd3bca44066e8e7dc391deab33eca608b08b75589b view-theme-asu-now-article"> <div class="view-content"> <div class="views-row"> <div class="views-field views-field-field-media-image"><div class="field-content"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/block_image_16_9_lge/public/2024-11/202410114%20NASABigIdeaChallengeSPCraterTesting_343.jpg?itok=R2NE02yv" width="1200" height="675" alt="Students test black circular inflatable landing pad at a crater site in Flagstaff" class="img-fluid" /> </div></div><p class="image-caption">Electrical engineering graduate student Sarwan Shah (back left), fourth-year mechanical engineering student Grant Lesley (back right), second-year mechanical engineering student Connor Owens (front left), mechanical engineering graduate student Vaibhav Khanna (center) and senior director of ASU's Luminosity Lab Tyler Smith set up a 1/5 scale model of the AEGIS inflatable lunar landing pad at SP Crater in the San Francisco Volcanic Field, just 25 miles north of Flagstaff, Arizona, on Oct. 14. The landing pad was developed by a team of students at ASU’s Luminosity Lab for NASA’s BIG Idea Challenge, a rigorous competition for students to design, build and test prototypes related to NASA’s current mission needs. Photo by Samantha Chow/Arizona State University</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="6-6 bg-top bg-percent-100 uds-flex-order-default"> <div class="container"> <div class="row"> <div class="layout__region layout__region--first col-md-6"> <div class="views-element-container block"> <div> <div class="view js-view-dom-id-ddde85ddb66f024b1919522481fa6a18fd53d087d1a0639e795a1a3af76735cf view-theme-author"> <div class="view-content"> <div class="views-row"> <div class="author-profile"> <div class="clearfix"> <div class="author-bio"> <span itemprop="author">By <a href="/users/dtropian">Dolores Tropiano</a></span> | <a href="mailto:Dolores.Tropiano@asu.edu"><i class="fa fa-envelope"></i></a><br /> <span class="small"> <time datetime="2024-11-05T08:53:04-07:00">November 05, 2024</time> </span> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="layout__region layout__region--second col-md-6"> <div class="block"> <span class="a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_24 addtoany_list" data-a2a-url="https://news.asu.edu/20241105-science-and-technology-rocket-science-students-land-opportunity-create-inflatable-lunar" data-a2a-title="Rocket science: Students land opportunity to create inflatable lunar pad for NASA"><a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share#url=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.asu.edu%2F20241105-science-and-technology-rocket-science-students-land-opportunity-create-inflatable-lunar&title=Rocket%20science%3A%20Students%20land%20opportunity%20to%20create%20inflatable%20lunar%20pad%20for%20NASA"></a><a class="a2a_button_facebook"></a><a class="a2a_button_twitter"></a><a class="a2a_button_linkedin"></a><a class="a2a_button_email"></a></span> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="layout__fixed-width"> <div class="bg-top bg-percent-100 max-size-container center-container"> <div class="container"> <div class="row"> <div class="col-12"> <div class="layout__region layout__region--first"> <div class="views-element-container block"> <div> <div class="node-body view js-view-dom-id-ff58e5a685f8b6fd051849ba44f18f176c310b0d2f2f33bec69aaf4c13db0640 view-theme-asu-now-article"> <div class="view-content"> <div> <p dir="ltr"><em><strong>Editor's note: </strong>The ASU AEGIS team won the Best Systems Engineering award — one of two awards given to the six teams that presented at the </em><a href="https://bigidea.nianet.org/2024-forum-results/"><em>Las Vegas forum</em></a><em> held Nov. 11–12. </em></p><p dir="ltr">Sixteen Arizona State University students have <a href="https://news.asu.edu/20240618-science-and-technology-asu-student-teams-design-selected-finalist-2024-nasasponsored-big">landed an opportunity</a> to participate in the <a href="https://bigidea.nianet.org/">2024 Breakthrough, Innovative and Game-changing (BIG) Idea Challenge</a>. </p><p dir="ltr">The NASA-sponsored competition allows students to design, build and test projects for real-life NASA missions while also preparing them for successful aerospace careers. </p><p dir="ltr">“It's an amazing experience for the students who participate,” said <a href="https://search.asu.edu/profile/1472623">Tyler Smith</a>, senior director of ASU’s <a href="https://theluminositylab.com/">Luminosity Lab</a>. “They have the opportunity to work on a real project to advance the technology-readiness level of a concept and further NASA's mission to return to the moon.”</p><p dir="ltr">Students from participating universities were tasked by NASA with building an inflatable system that would address a lunar challenge. A lightweight and compressible structure requires less space and lowers the cost involved in sending missions to deep-space destinations.</p><p dir="ltr">The ASU team competed against colleges and universities across the country and was one of only six finalists awarded up to $150,000 for their winning concept and proposal.</p><p dir="ltr">ASU’s BIG idea?</p><p dir="ltr">The AEGIS — Inflatable Lunar Landing Pad System, which will enable rockets to safely and successfully land on the moon.</p><p dir="ltr">The final student teams will attend a forum in Las Vegas Nov. 11–12 to present their final prototypes, which will be judged based on their technology readiness. </p> <figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media view-mode--default"> <div class="uds-video-container"> <div class="uds-video-player youtube-video"> <iframe src="https://news.asu.edu/media/oembed?url=https%3A//www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DvUya2RUMKHA&max_width=640&max_height=360&hash=XlrICDJl8eXfi7uruAN0kL3Ki0LCtXl7T0jFbNc4cc4" frameborder="0" allowtransparency width="640" height="360" class="media-oembed-content" loading="eager" title="NASA Big Idea Challenge : Arizona State University (ASU)"></iframe> </div> </div> <figcaption><span>Video by EJ Hernandez/ASU News</span></figcaption> </figure> <p dir="ltr">“This is NASA's largest student-funded grant competition, so it's very, very competitive and prestigious,” Smith said. “The teams in this competition are often from the most prestigious space engineering institutions, like MIT and Caltech.” </p><p dir="ltr">This year marks the third time students from ASU’s Luminosity Lab are participating in the BIG Idea Challenge, having won each previous year. With that in mind, the odds look good for them in Las Vegas.</p><p dir="ltr">“We are batting 1,000,” said Smith, who believes they might lock up the top honor — the NASA Artemis Award — this year.</p><p dir="ltr">The award is given to the team whose concept has the best potential to contribute to and be integrated into a future Artemis mission, said Janice Miller, project lead and communications manager at the National Institute of Aerospace.</p><p dir="ltr">So far, the students have been building and testing each component of the design, a process that began in ASU’s <a href="https://asu.corefacilities.org/service_center/show_external/5759?name=interplanetary-initiative-lab">Interplanetary Initiative Lab,</a> where students tested a 3D-created anchor system that needs to lift a 600-pound container filled with sand.</p><p dir="ltr">The anchor is necessary to secure the landing pad in place on the surface of the moon.</p><p dir="ltr">While the first test failed, subsequent tests have been successful.</p><div class="glide image-carousel aligned-carousel slider-start glide--ltr glide--slider glide--swipeable" id="glide-496889" data-remove-side-background="false" data-image-auto-size="true" data-has-shadow="true" data-current-index="0"> <div class="glide__track slider-mid" data-glide-el="track"> <ul class="glide__slides" style="transition: transform 400ms cubic-bezier(0.165, 0.84, 0.44, 1) 0s; transform: translate3d(48px, 0px, 0px);"><li class="glide__slide slider glide__slide--active" style="max-width:1168px;width:1168px;"> <div class="uds-img"> <figure class="figure uds-figure"> <img src="https://news.asu.edu/sites/default/files/styles/asu_news_gallery_image/public/2024-11/20240904%20NASA%20Big%20Idea%20Challenge%20613.jpg?itok=79A5BVxN" class="uds-img figure-img img-fluid" alt="Students work together on testing an anchor in a large barrel of sand in a lab" title> <figcaption class="figure-caption uds-figure-caption" data-testid="image-content-container"> <div class="uds-caption-text"> <div> <p class="caption"></p><p>From left: students Georgia Lee, Nick Nguyen, Connor Owens and Sarwan Shah test a 3D-created anchor system that needs to lift a 600-pound container filled with sand in Sun Devil Hall on Sept. 4.</p> <p class="courtesy">Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU News</p> </div> </div> </figcaption> </figure> </div> </li><li class="glide__slide slider glide__slide--active" style="max-width:1168px;width:1168px;"> <div class="uds-img"> <figure class="figure uds-figure"> <img src="https://news.asu.edu/sites/default/files/styles/asu_news_gallery_image/public/2024-09/20240916%20NASA%20Big%20Idea%20Challenge%20862.jpg?itok=SacuJ5sj" class="uds-img figure-img img-fluid" alt="ASU students work on NASA's BIG Idea Challenge competition" title> <figcaption class="figure-caption uds-figure-caption" data-testid="image-content-container"> <div class="uds-caption-text"> <div> <p class="caption"></p><p>During the first test, the nose of the 3D-printed anchor broke, causing the team to replace it with an older version so they could try for better testing data. From left: Grant Lesley disassembles the anchor as Georgia Lee, Sarwan Shah and Connor Owens share their insights.</p> <p class="courtesy">Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU News</p> </div> </div> </figcaption> </figure> </div> </li><li class="glide__slide slider glide__slide--active" style="max-width:1168px;width:1168px;"> <div class="uds-img"> <figure class="figure uds-figure"> <img src="https://news.asu.edu/sites/default/files/styles/asu_news_gallery_image/public/2024-09/20240913%20NASA%20Big%20Idea%20Challenge%20821.jpg?itok=AGfB_FhU" class="uds-img figure-img img-fluid" alt="ASU student works on BIG Idea Challenge" title> <figcaption class="figure-caption uds-figure-caption" data-testid="image-content-container"> <div class="uds-caption-text"> <div> <p class="caption"></p><p>Second-year mechanical engineering student Georgia Lee works on the enclosure base to allow panels to seal flush against it for a prototype of an inflatable debris shield landing pad for lunar operations, which would minimize damage to the structure caused by the kicked-up regolith, fine-grained lunar soil. </p> <p class="courtesy">Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU News</p> </div> </div> </figcaption> </figure> </div> </li><li class="glide__slide slider glide__slide--active" style="max-width:1168px;width:1168px;"> <div class="uds-img"> <figure class="figure uds-figure"> <img src="https://news.asu.edu/sites/default/files/styles/asu_news_gallery_image/public/2024-11/20240913%20NASA%20Big%20Idea%20Challenge%20782.jpg?itok=nyAbrW8R" class="uds-img figure-img img-fluid" alt="Two students work on a metal construction piece in an ASU lab" title> <figcaption class="figure-caption uds-figure-caption" data-testid="image-content-container"> <div class="uds-caption-text"> <div> <p class="caption"></p><p>Mechanical engineering graduate student Vaibhav Khanna (left) and second-year mechanical engineering student Connor Owens talk about the assembly of one of the sheath-and-auger anchors they will fit into the metal enclosure.</p> <p class="courtesy">Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU News</p> </div> </div> </figcaption> </figure> </div> </li><li class="glide__slide slider glide__slide--active" style="max-width:1168px;width:1168px;"> <div class="uds-img"> <figure class="figure uds-figure"> <img src="https://news.asu.edu/sites/default/files/styles/asu_news_gallery_image/public/2024-09/20240913%20NASA%20Big%20Idea%20Challenge%20813.jpg?itok=kor2K-nv" class="uds-img figure-img img-fluid" alt="ASU student works on NASA BIG Idea Challenge" title> <figcaption class="figure-caption uds-figure-caption" data-testid="image-content-container"> <div class="uds-caption-text"> <div> <p class="caption"></p><p>Aerospace engineering graduate student Om Panchal scores a hinge where holes need to go to attach to the enclosure on part of a prototype of an inflatable debris shield landing pad for lunar operations.</p> <p class="courtesy">Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU News</p> </div> </div> </figcaption> </figure> </div> </li><li class="glide__slide slider glide__slide--active" style="max-width:1168px;width:1168px;"> <div class="uds-img"> <figure class="figure uds-figure"> <img src="https://news.asu.edu/sites/default/files/styles/asu_news_gallery_image/public/2024-09/20240916%20NASA%20Big%20Idea%20Challenge%20836.jpg?itok=cofnfYHx" class="uds-img figure-img img-fluid" alt="ASU students work on lunar landing pad for NASA competition" title> <figcaption class="figure-caption uds-figure-caption" data-testid="image-content-container"> <div class="uds-caption-text"> <div> <p class="caption"></p><p>Sarwan Shaw (left) documents data as Connor Owens increases the pressure and Georgia Lee takes a video. They are testing how much horizontal pressure the anchor will hold before pulling out of the sand.</p> <p class="courtesy">Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU News</p> </div> </div> </figcaption> </figure> </div> </li><li class="glide__slide slider glide__slide--active" style="max-width:1168px;width:1168px;"> <div class="uds-img"> <figure class="figure uds-figure"> <img src="https://news.asu.edu/sites/default/files/styles/asu_news_gallery_image/public/2024-11/20240926%20NASA%20BIG%20Idea%20Beam%20Test%20230.jpg?itok=W3UPaXUx" class="uds-img figure-img img-fluid" alt="Students record video of pressure being applied to object in lab" title> <figcaption class="figure-caption uds-figure-caption" data-testid="image-content-container"> <div class="uds-caption-text"> <div> <p class="caption"></p><p>Grant Lesley (far left) and Connor Owens (far right) shoot video as Sarwan Shaw and lab manager Dallas Kingsbury monitor pressure during the bend testing of the inflated structure.</p> <p class="courtesy">Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU News</p> </div> </div> </figcaption> </figure> </div> </li></ul></div><div role="group" class="glide__bullets" data-glide-el="controls[nav]" data-testid="bullets-container"><button type="button" class="glide__bullet glide__bullet--active" data-glide-dir="=0" aria-label="Slide view 0"></button><button type="button" class="glide__bullet glide__bullet--active" data-glide-dir="=1" aria-label="Slide view 1"></button><button type="button" class="glide__bullet glide__bullet--active" data-glide-dir="=2" aria-label="Slide view 2"></button><button type="button" class="glide__bullet glide__bullet--active" data-glide-dir="=3" aria-label="Slide view 3"></button><button type="button" class="glide__bullet glide__bullet--active" data-glide-dir="=4" aria-label="Slide view 4"></button><button type="button" class="glide__bullet glide__bullet--active" data-glide-dir="=5" aria-label="Slide view 5"></button><button type="button" class="glide__bullet glide__bullet--active" data-glide-dir="=6" aria-label="Slide view 6"></button></div><div class="glide__arrows" data-glide-el="controls" data-testid="arrows-container"> <button class="glide__arrow glide__arrow--left" data-glide-dir="<" aria-label="Previous slide"> <span class="fas fa-chevron-left arrow-icon"></span> </button> <button class="glide__arrow glide__arrow--right" data-glide-dir=">" aria-label="Next slide"> <span class="fas fa-chevron-right arrow-icon"></span> </button> </div> </div><script src="/sites/all/libraries/glide.js"></script> <script> window.addEventListener('load', function () { var options = { type: 'carousel', startAt: 0, perView: 2, focusAt: 'center', peek: 10, breakpoints: { 800: { perView: 1 }, 480: { perView: 1 } } } var sliders = document.querySelectorAll('#glide-496889'); for (var i = 0; i < sliders.length; i++) { var glide = new Glide(sliders[i], options); glide.mount(); } }); </script><p dir="ltr">“There is still a lot of work to do,” said <a href="https://search.asu.edu/profile/4516318">Connor Owens</a>, a second-year mechanical engineering student at ASU’s <a href="https://engineering.asu.edu/">Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering</a>. He is helping to design and build the inflatable system.</p><div class="uds-highlighted-heading"><h4><span class="highlight-white">Planning for the unexpected</span></h4></div><p dir="ltr">There’s plenty to think about when landing a rocket on the moon. And a lot of inherent problems. </p><p dir="ltr">For one thing, the design has to accommodate for factors that happen in a completely foreign atmosphere under conditions that may or may not be known or understood.</p><p dir="ltr">For example, unlike the Earth, the moon doesn’t have winds that can erode rock and create smooth stones. Instead, its surface is covered with “lunar regolith” — sharp rocks and debris that are created by meteorite impacts and produce a fine, powdery dust.</p><p dir="ltr">When a rocket descends on the moon, the velocity of the sharp shards of glass regolith can scatter like brush in an Arizona dust storm and ruin both the multimillion-dollar rockets and the moon mission. It can also damage potential future habitats or settlements on the lunar surface.</p><p dir="ltr">That’s the problem the ASU team took on.</p><p dir="ltr">“By the time you actually get close to the surface of the moon, you're blowing up so much of what is essentially moon dust that you're landing blind,” said Elizabeth Arnold, who participated in the 2022 challenge and is now a student advisor for the team. “You can't see the ground anymore. So by making a landing pad that has a rim at a certain angle, we can redirect all of the thrust.”</p><p dir="ltr">Arnold said one of the biggest challenges of the inflatable landing pad system is handling the high temperatures from the lander propulsion systems during landing, which can reach as high as 3,000 degrees Celsius (5,432 Fahrenheit).</p><p dir="ltr">“The extremely high temperatures can damage the inflatable structures and electronics in the landing pad,” said Arnold, a graduate of the <a href="https://engineering.asu.edu/">Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering</a> who secured internships at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab and Honeybee Robotics after participating in the BIG Idea Challenge.   </p><p dir="ltr">Many of the participants were drawn from the Luminosity Lab, an interdisciplinary research lab driven by a group of high-performing students.</p><p dir="ltr">The team is made up of students from the Fulton Schools, the <a href="https://schoolofsustainability.asu.edu/">School of Sustainability</a> and the <a href="https://math.asu.edu/">School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences</a>, as well as students studying industrial design, graphic design and fashion at the <a href="https://herbergerinstitute.asu.edu/">Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts.</a></p><p dir="ltr">“A lot of them hadn’t worked in anything space-related prior to the competition,” Arnold said.</p><p dir="ltr">Tokiya Aono, a fashion studies major, was the designer and seamstress responsible for prototyping and sewing the tarp for the pad.</p><p dir="ltr">“As a fashion student, being a part of this project is a bit bizarre but exciting,” he said.</p><p dir="ltr">“When I joined, I had almost zero knowledge about space exploration and hardly had interest in the subject. ... But once I worked with the team, I got into it a bit more," Aono said. "Although I had a hard time almost every day trying to figure out words that I have never heard of, I can say that I am having fun with this project.” </p> <figure role="group" class="caption caption-drupal-media view-mode--default"> <div class="embedded-media"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/full_body_width/public/2024-11/20240928%20NASA%20BIG%20Idea%20-%20Sewing%20450.jpg?itok=V-o7dwqJ" width="700" height="467" alt="Student wearing clean room protective gear pins fabric in a lab" class="img-fluid"> </div> <figcaption><span>Fourth-year fashion student Tokiya Aono clips two pieces of carbon fiber that he’ll sew to create the ASU team’s AEGIS inflatable lunar landing pad cover in an engineering lab on the Tempe campus. The material may get coated with a zirconia paste that helps dissipate the heat from lunar landers. Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU News</span></figcaption> </figure> <div class="uds-highlighted-heading"><h4><span class="highlight-white">Ask for the moon</span></h4></div><p dir="ltr">Securing up to $150,000 from NASA was not easy. Once the students identified the challenge, they had to create and design a solution that they detailed in a 27-page proposal. It contained plans to design, build and test their system, as well as a budget to do so. Their project is judged at many junctures throughout the process.</p><p dir="ltr">“They got to ideate on real challenges that NASA is facing today, and then will have NASA actually use their ideas when they are developing systems and trying to solve those problems,” said Arnold, a graduate student at The Fulton Schools. </p><p dir="ltr">The process of creating something as complex as a lunar landing pad is akin to any creative process.</p><p dir="ltr">“You try and you try and you try,” said Owen, a mechanical engineering major who helped design the launching pad.</p><p dir="ltr">Over the summer, Owen spent eight hours each day watching videos and reading to figure out how to approach the problem. A go-to resource was the "<a href="https://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar_sourcebook/">Lunar Sourcebook: A User’s Guide to the Moon,</a>" a comprehensive reference of all of the scientific and technical information on the moon.</p><p dir="ltr">“It’s a lot more complicated than you think, and even if you figure it out, no one tells you how to do it on the moon,” said Owens, a former Vanderploeg Luminosity Scholarship Program winner. “So you have to imagine how that would work. This is high-level civil engineering.”</p><p dir="ltr">The end product will be an auto inflatable and reusable landing platform designed to be transported by a rover to a designated landing zone. The landing pad will have a radar system to track incoming rockets, or “landers,” and an antenna for transmitting its relative position to the lander. It will fit in a hexagonal container and weigh about 330 pounds. </p><p dir="ltr">In October, the ASU team performed field-testing at the Flagstaff SP crater lava flow and rocket hot fire testing in Mohave, California.</p><p dir="ltr"><a href="https://search.asu.edu/profile/3821951">Grant Lesley</a> is the project lead for the challenge.</p><p dir="ltr">“It’s a hard problem,” said the fourth-year mechanical engineering major from The Fulton Schools.</p><p dir="ltr">“There is a lot of energy going into this project. While we are doing the testing, we have to make all of the necessary assumptions to ensure that the results of our testing are applicable to the moon."</p><p dir="ltr">But the experience has been very rewarding for Lesley.</p><p dir="ltr">“Working for NASA has opened up so many doors in my mind as well as opportunities,” he said. “And it is getting me a lot of kudos at parties and reunions.”</p><div class="uds-highlighted-heading"><h4><span class="highlight-white">Real-world experience</span></h4></div><p dir="ltr">Miller said that it is common for students to conclude the competition and have an internship or even a job simply because of the opportunities presented through the BIG Idea Challenge.</p><p dir="ltr">“We have had stories of folks participating where part or all of their technology has been commended and recognized as a high potential for integration in space exploration,” she said.</p><p dir="ltr">Kevin Kempton, a program element manager in NASA’s Game Changing Development program has been a BIG Idea Challenge panel member for many years.</p><p dir="ltr">“The real value to NASA is the insight gained from the building and testing of these innovative concepts,” he said. “Data and lessons learned from these efforts is very valuable when deciding what technology is feasible and should be developed further. Another important benefit for NASA is helping the next generation gain the key skills needed to develop space systems.”</p><p dir="ltr">ASU’s <a href="https://newsroom.asu.edu/expert/jim-bell">Jim Bell</a>, an advisor for the team, has been actively involved with several NASA solar system exploration missions.</p><p dir="ltr">“Working as a team on this kind of NASA engineering challenge activity represents an amazing opportunity for our students to interact and network with government and industry space science and engineering experts from around the country,” said Bell, a professor in the <a href="https://sese.asu.edu/">School of Earth and Space Exploration</a>. “The Luminosity Lab’s AEGIS team is a spectacular example of the kinds of talented, collaborative and innovative student teams that we foster here at ASU.”</p><div class="article-details-box"></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="views-element-container block"> <div> <div class="node-body-categories view js-view-dom-id-b3f01aa5fa06ccbb85c8a820635c0936b06aab8d80f4906f6ede51e7c4c37c96 view-theme-asu-now-article"> <div class="view-content"> <div> <a href="https://news.asu.edu/interests/design" class="btn btn-tag btn-gat-alt-white">Design</a> <a href="https://news.asu.edu/un-sustainable-development-goals/sdg-04-quality-education" class="btn btn-tag btn-gat-alt-white">SDG 04 Quality Education</a> <a href="https://news.asu.edu/un-sustainable-development-goals/sdg-09-industry-innovation-and-infrastructure" class="btn btn-tag btn-gat-alt-white">SDG 09 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure</a> <a href="https://news.asu.edu/locations/tempe-campus" class="btn btn-tag btn-gat-alt-white">Tempe campus</a> <a href="https://news.asu.edu/colleges-and-units/design-school" class="btn btn-tag btn-gat-alt-white">The Design School</a> <a href="https://news.asu.edu/interests/engineering" class="btn btn-tag btn-gat-alt-white">Engineering</a> <a href="https://news.asu.edu/saf/science-and-technology" class="btn btn-tag btn-gat-alt-white">Science and technology</a> <a href="https://news.asu.edu/constituent-type/prospective-student" class="btn btn-tag btn-gat-alt-white">Prospective student</a> <a href="https://news.asu.edu/interests/science" class="btn btn-tag btn-gat-alt-white">Science</a> <a href="https://news.asu.edu/interests/space-exploration" class="btn btn-tag btn-gat-alt-white">Space exploration</a> <a href="https://news.asu.edu/constituent-type/student" class="btn btn-tag btn-gat-alt-white">Student</a> <a href="https://news.asu.edu/colleges-and-units/ira-fulton-schools-engineering" class="btn btn-tag btn-gat-alt-white">Ira A. 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