July 16, 2007
iPhone helps Purdue students win $2,500 from NASA
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The new iPhone has already proven to be a big hit with a team of Purdue University graduate students who captured a $2,500 cash prize and an invitation to a NASA launch by writing the winning paper in a space systems engineering contest.Purdue’s team topped six others in the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate Space Grant Systems Engineering Paper Competition that was open to schools from around the country. Teams had to demonstrate a system engineering process that was relevant to NASA and is cost effective and worthy of the risk.
Purdue’s team was made up of graduate students from an industrial engineering, aeronautics and astronautics class this past spring taught by Barrett Caldwell, associate professor of industrial engineering, aeronautics and astronautics. The team’s paper focused on the benefits of using the iPhone in NASA ground operations during inspections and pre-launch buildup for the Ares/Orion and other launch vehicles. Caldwell said the students selected the iPhone after comparing it with several other hand-held devices in determining what NASA technicians would need during ground evaluations.
“Imagine you take your car to the mechanic and the mechanic has a lot of procedures on how to fix your car,�? Caldwell said. “It can be very frustrating that every five minutes the mechanic has to go back and look at a book of procedures on the desk and try to remember what those things were to fix your car.
“Now, imagine that your car is 300 feet tall? There are no repair shops in space, so it’s very important that you get this right the first time. That’s what the ground operations technicians at the Kennedy Space Center and the Marshall Space Flight Center are doing, so we designed a technology that will help them get information where they need it and when they need it to reduce the risk of errors and of problems in improving the design and construction.�?
Caldwell said the students started on the project in February and turned it in to NASA at the end of April. He said one of the biggest challenges was not having an iPhone to work with, so students took specifications of the iPhone from the Apple Web site and created a prototype for the project. The iPhone was introduced to the open market on June 29.
Caldwell said he does not know what launch he and the students will attend, but they are looking forward to the experience. Purdue’s winning team consisted of Ashley Benedict, of New Smyrna Beach, Fla.; Keena Byrd, of West Lafayette, Ind.; Lalaine Ignacio, of Rockford, Ill.; Amit Lagu, of Libertyville, Ill., Ralph Curtis Palmer, III, of Fayetteville, N.C.; April Savoy, of Carencro, La.; Deepti Surabattula, of Visakhapatnam, India; and Samantha Vaitkunas, of Bow, N.H.
Two teams from Georgia Tech University captured the second and third spots in the competition. Other schools participating included the University of Missouri-Rolla, University of Michigan, Temple University, the Milwaukee School of Engineering and Utah State University.
Writer: Clyde Hughes, (765) 494-2073, cell: 419-215-1087, jchughes@purdue.edu
Source: Barrett S. Caldwell, (765) 494-5412, bscaldwell@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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