The Space Systems and Control Lab ( SSCL), is a laboratory based at

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the ...

(ISU) in Ames, IA. SSCL focuses on space systems and has a massive number of independent projects. Within its department, the SSCL also has an AABL Wind and Gust Tunnel, Anechoic Chamber, Icing Tunnel, Neutral Buoyancy Tank, Rotational Diamond Anvil Cell, and a Tornado Simulator.

History

In 2007, the SSCL was changed to the Space Systems and Controls Lab as new leadership took over, and to reflect some of the changes the lab had undergone. The SSCL continues with a focus in space systems and has expanded to several new areas. The SSCL still has a strong emphasis on student involvement with both projects and leadership of the lab. Currently, the lab has 4 core projects, two active research projects, several capstone projects and well over 50 students from

Electrical Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...

Aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astr ...

, and

Mechanical Engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, an ...

, as well as students outside the

College of Engineering Engineering education is the activity of teaching knowledge and principles to the professional practice of engineering. It includes an initial education ( bachelor's and/or master's degree), and any advanced education and specializations tha ...

. The lab is managed by Matthew Nelson, a staff member within the Aerospace Engineering department and the Director of Engineering and Operations for the lab. Funding for the lab is provided by the Aerospace Engineering Department,

research grants A grant is a fund given by an end entity grant – often a public body, charitable foundation, or a specialised grant-making institution – to an individual or another entity (usually, a non-profit organisation, sometimes a business or a local ...

, and private donations.

Projects

The SSCL has several core projects that are ongoing from year to year. In addition to these projects, the SSCL has had numerous capstone and independent projects led by students in the lab.

HABET

The longest running project at the SSCL is the High Altitude Balloon Experiments in Technology (HABET) program. This program has enabled students to design, build and fly spacecraft to the edge of our atmosphere and back to earth.. The HABET team has flown many experiments that have included micro gravity,

worm Worms are many different distantly related bilateral animals that typically have a long cylindrical tube-like body, no limbs, and no eyes (though not always). Worms vary in size from microscopic to over in length for marine polychaete wo ...

s, collection of atmospheric data, and high quality images and videos. The HABET team has flown over 130 flights, has obtained an altitude record of 121,793 feet (ASL), has flown payloads up to 50 lbs, and has continually been developing new techniques and hardware for High Altitude Balloons.

IJEMS

The ISAT project was never fully funded. In September 1994, an opportunity to fly an experiment aboard the

space shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program ...

was presented. One of the original experiments for the ISAT project was incorporated into a design to be flown aboard the space shuttle in a project called the Iowa Joint Experiment in Microgravity Solidification (IJEMS). The project involved many institutions, including

(ISU), the University of Iowa, the

Ames Laboratory Ames National Laboratory, formerly Ames Laboratory, is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory located in Ames, Iowa, and affiliated with Iowa State University. It is a top-level national laboratory for research on national sec ...

, the Institute for Physical Research and Technology,

Rockwell International Rockwell International was a major American manufacturing conglomerate involved in aircraft, the space industry, defense and commercial electronics, components in the automotive industry, printing presses, avionics and industrial products. R ...

, and

Space Industries Incorporated Space Industries Incorporated was a company formed in the 1980s for the purpose of building a privately owned space station, which was to be called the Industrial Space Facility (ISF). At the time, the idea of private spaceflight, private Space expl ...

. In September 1995, the project was successfully flown on board

STS-69 STS-69 was a Space Shuttle ''Endeavour'' mission, and the second flight of the Wake Shield Facility (WSF). The mission launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on 7 September 1995. It was the 100th successful crewed NASA spaceflight, not incl ...

. IJEMS had the following attributes:The Fifth Annual Iowa Space Conference, Conference Proceedings, Iowa Space Grant Consortium., 1995. *

Microprocessor A microprocessor is a computer processor where the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit, or a small number of integrated circuits. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, and control circ ...

: 33 MHz 486SLC * Storage Media: 3MB Flash memory formatted with

FAT In nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food. The term often refers specifically to triglycerides (triple est ...

for executable and data storage *

Operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also i ...

DOS DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems. DOS may also refer to: Computing * Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel * Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicat ...

Thermocouple A thermocouple, also known as a "thermoelectrical thermometer", is an electrical device consisting of two dissimilar electrical conductors forming an electrical junction. A thermocouple produces a temperature-dependent voltage as a result of th ...

s quantity: 32 * Solid state relays quantity: 24 *

Programming language A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Most programming languages are text-based formal languages, but they may also be graphical. They are a kind of computer language. The description of a programming ...

C++ C++ (pronounced "C plus plus") is a high-level general-purpose programming language created by Danish computer scientist Bjarne Stroustrup as an extension of the C programming language, or "C with Classes". The language has expanded significan ...

* Hosted experiments quantity: 4 * Available power: 20A @ 28V * Pre-flight acceleration testing: 9G * Smart Can pressure regulation: 1/2 ATM

References

External links

Space Systems and Controls Lab

ISU Course Catalog - Aerospace Engineering (AER E)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spacecraft Systems And Controls Lab Iowa State University 1992 establishments in Iowa Aerospace organizations Systems and Controls La Controls Lab Systems and Controls Lab Space exploration