San Diego Space Society

OASIS Presents “Not Your Parents’ Lunar Lander”

Posted by Chris Radcliff in Calendar on January 16, 2009

3:00 pm to 5:00 pm

Location:
El Dorado Public Library (map)
2900 Studebaker Rd, Long Beach, CA

OASIS invites you to a lecture by David E. Barnhart, Assoc. Director, Space Engineering Research Center
“Not Your Parents Lunar Lander; USC’s Project Leapfrog”

Admission Free
This event is not library-sponsored

A Return to the Moon requires a new generation of rocket engineers. Decades removed from the Apollo program that trained an earlier generation, they need to innovate on a deadline, using the latest technology to construct low-cost prototypes for testing and evaluation. Where can future rocket engineers learn these skills? Look to USC.

David A. Barnhart will explain how Project LEAPFROG is providing USC students the opportunity to design, build, and test a low cost, working model of a lunar lander. The hovering platform will demonstrate descent and landing profiles similar to those performed on the Moon. Placed in a tightly integrated team environment, these future engineers gain valuable aerospace experience — the sort their parents may have gotten working on Apollo.

Mr. Barnhart is manager of Project LEAPFROG. He has a Master of Science degree in Aerospace and Ocean Engineering from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from Boston University.