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5.0 About the Team
This section is about all of the 41 members of the team. Although not every member is featured
in the Overview section, each of their contributions to the report can be found in the Appendix.
We thank them for your hard work and dedication to Project Bellerophon. We commend them
for a job well done and wish each of them the best of luck in the future. Boiler up!
Alan Schwing, Project Manager
Amanda Briden, Assistant Project Manager
Name
Balta, Jerald
Beasley, John *
Bluestone, Stephen
Breitengross, Scott
Bryan, Nichole
Budzinski, Brian *
Chaney, Albert
Childers, David
Chua, Daniel
Darby, Jason
Donahue, Kyle *
Doyle, Jessica
Ferris, Bradley
Guzik, Allen
Harkness, Elizabeth *
Hinton, Ricky
Hiu, CJ
Izzo, Steven
Kane, Molly
Group
Propulsion
Propulsion
Propulsion
Trajectory
Avionics
Aerothermal
Dynamics & Controls
Structures
Trajectory
Aerothermal
Trajectory
Structures
Trajectory
Trajectory
Trajectory
Propulsion
Structures
Structures
Structures
Name
Kanehara, Jun
Lattibeaudiere, Dana
Lorenzana, Timothy
Lynam, Alfred
Morris, Stephanie
Rhodes, Justin
Schoenbauer, Jessica
Shoemaker, Sarah
Shurn, Stephan
Strauss, Christopher
Stuart, Jeffrey
Teixeira, Vincent
Waite, Adam
Walker, Michael *
White, Brandon *
Wilcox, Nicole
Woods, Alex
Yaple, Danielle *
Zott, Jayme
Group
Trajectory
Propulsion
Avionics
Dynamics & Controls
Propulsion
Avionics
Structures
Structures
Propulsion
Aerothermal
Dynamics & Controls
Structures
Dynamics & Controls
Dynamics & Controls
Structures
Propulsion
Aerothermal
Avionics
Aerothermal
* This person is a group contact and act as the liaison between their group and Project Manager. Group contacts
help the Project Manager set deadlines and delegate tasks.
Author: Dana Lattibeaudiere
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Below are the profiles of each team member including what they contributed to the team,
major/minor concentrations in AAE, and their plans for after graduation.
Jerald Balta
I am a member of the Propulsion group. For the project, I worked on developing the model for
the balloon launch vehicle. I worked on developing a physical model as well as costing the
balloon along with William Ling. I also worked on personnel costs. My major and minor areas
in AAE are Propulsion and Structures respectively. As for my plans after college, I want to
continue my college education with graduate work. I want to pursue my Master's. From there, I
will either pursue a doctorate or a job in industry.
John Beasley
I was the Propulsion group contact and I wrote codes to analyze solid and hybrid rocket
performance (both of which were scrapped). I also helped debug various codes and research
selected topics. My major is Propulsion and my minor is Design. After graduation, I will be
working ... a lot ... for many years.
Stephen Bluestone
As a member of the propulsion group I helped in the selection of the propellants to be used and
the sizing of the launch vehicle. I also performed the cost analysis for all rocket engines used in
the final design. My major and minor concentrations are Propulsion and Fluid Mechanics,
respectively. After completing my undergraduate degree I will attend Purdue’s Graduate School
pursuing a masters in Aerospace engineering, either in the propulsion or systems field. Upon
receiving my masters I plan to enter the propulsion industry.
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Scott Breitengross
As a member of the Trajectory group, I developed the programs to calculate the DeltaV
parameters, helped validate the trajectory code, and ran trajectory optimization codes for the
final analysis. My major and minor areas are in Propulsion and Aerodynamics, respectively.
Upon graduation I will receive my commission in the US Navy and report to Charleston, SC for
Nuclear Power School.
Amanda Briden
My work was split between managerial tasks, as the Assistant Project Manager, and technical
work as a member of the Trajectory group. Managerial tasks included ‘Mandy’s Motivation.’
My technical work involved helping develop the aircraft steering law and the method of
optimizing it. I also completed validation analyses, including comparing trends in the change of
the ballistic coefficient for historical launch vehicles to our launch vehicles. In AAE, my
concentrations are Dynamics & Controls and Aerodynamics. After graduation, I am working at
the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL), in Pasadena, California, in the Mission Planning Department.
Nichole Bryan
I was a member of the Avionics group and the MAT team. I determined which electrical
components (other than everything dealing with telecom) to implement into our vehicle
configuration. Specifically, I worked on developing the CPU, IMU, and sensor specifications,
pricing these components, and made the powerbudget for the entire launch vehicle. My major is
Dynamics & Control with a minor in Design. After graduation, I will leave Indiana and work for
Rockwell Collins in a rotational program.
Brian Budzinski
I was the Aerothermal group contact. I initially began working on CFD, however, when that
became time consuming, only one person worked on CFD. I also did a thorough analysis on
wings and fins for an aircraft launch. I also ran the standard deviation calculations for drag and
Cd. My major and minor areas are in Propulsion and Aerodynamics, respectively. As for after
graduation plans, I am still looking for a job, however, I currently interface with both GE and
Southwest Research Institute. I eventually plan to go to graduate school.
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Albert Chaney
I am a senior in AAE, majoring in Dynamics & Control with a minor in Propulsion, here at
wonderful Purdue University. I worked in the Dynamics & Control group controlling the launch
vehicles. My future plans include graduating in May and commissioning into the United States
Air Force as a Space and Missile Officer. My first base will be Vandenberg Air Force Base in
California. There I will learn a lot of things that I cannot discuss in a non-classified civilian
project report.
David Childers
I was a member of the Structures group. For the project, my time and efforts were used to create
code and calculations to find the center of mass for each launch vehicle as well as determining
the total structures cost for each vehicle. Within AAE, my major is Structures and my minor is in
Dynamics & Controls. Upon graduation, I will work for Butler International.
Daniel Chua
As a member of the Trajectory group, I worked on trajectory optimization. My AAE major and
minor concentrations are in Dynamics & Controls and Structures, respectively.
My after
graduation plans are to enroll in the National Service in Singapore.
Jason Darby
I was a part of the Aerothermal group and my responsibilities included wind tunnel testing and
nose cone heating.
Kyle Donohue
I am part of the Trajectory optimization group. I worked on the weather and wind models. I also
worked on the steering law for the ground launch and the balloon launch. My major is Design
optimization and my minor is Dynamics & Controls. After graduation I will hopefully be
working with Northrop Grumman in the Space Technology sector. I plan to go to graduate
school and obtain a MSAAE in Astrodynamics.
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Jessica Doyle
As a member of the Structures group, I was the ‘skirt girl’ for the team (inter-stage skirts
anyway). I also helped by doing CAD work and materials research. My major is Design and my
minor is Structures. After graduation, I'm getting married, moving down to Houston, TX, and
working for Schlumberger in their sustaining department.
Brad Ferris
I was a member of the Trajectory group. I worked with the group to develop the computer codes
necessary to produce a good launch trajectory for the launch vehicle. I am majoring in
Propulsion, and minoring in Dynamics & Control. After graduating this May, I hope to find a
position where I can work with propulsion systems.
Allen Guzik
I worked with the Trajectory group, helping to develop a wind and atmosphere model, helped to
understand the steering law, and provided other general coding support for the Trajectory code. I
am majoring in Propulsion and minoring in Structures. For my graduation plans, I am moving to
Dallas, Texas to work for L3 Communications as a stress engineer modifying aircraft.
Elizabeth Harkness
I was the Trajectory Group contact. I helped with interfacing Trajectory with the other groups,
getting what we needed from them, and finding out what they needed from us. I was also
declared 'Team Mom', because of my penchant for baking cookies and bringing them to group
meetings. My major concentration is Dynamics & Controls, my minor concentration is
Propulsion. After graduation, I hope to get a job in the aerospace industry, hopefully working in
international business and management.
Richard Hinton
I worked in the Propulsion group for the team, mainly dealing with nozzle design, testing
facilities, and helping the team wherever necessary. My major is Design and my minor is
Propulsion in AAE. After graduation, I am still deciding on whether I would like to attend
graduate school or look for a job in the aerospace industry.
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CJ Hiu
I worked on the structural analysis and design of the tanks and intertank couplers. Additionally, I
coded the main structures function for preliminary design variants (MAT). I am also a member
of the CAD team. I am a graduate student majoring in Propulsion, with a minor in Design and
Mathematics. I graduated first class honors with a Bachelor of Engineering (Aerospace) from the
University of New South Wales, Australia. I had worked on structural analysis of the Airbus
A380 airliner and A400M military transport for 2 years. I will graduate in 2 years and I hope to
work on projects involving manned missions to space.
Steven Izzo
I was part of the Structures group and worked on the mounting of the tanks and engines,
buckling prevention, and final stress considerations. My major within AAE is Design and my
minor is Structures. After graduation I plan on working in the aerospace industry.
Molly Kane
During the semester I was part of the Structures Group of the design team. I
worked
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Materials.
After
graduation I hope to work with research and development of rocket engines.
Jun Kanehara
I was in the Trajectory group, and I mainly worked on EOM, steering laws, outputs and plots. I
also compiled and formatted the main script, and I believe I got involved in almost all of the
functions and scripts of the trajectory codes by either coding by myself or helping other
members. My major and minor concentrations are in Propulsion and Design, respectively. I will
go to a graduate school in Europe and continue studying either Astronautics in general or D&C. I
got accepted to Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands so far, and I'm still
waiting for the responses from other European universities as well.
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Dana Lattibeaudiere
As a member of the Propulsion group, my main tasks were to create a code that calculates the
parameters of a nozzle for each stage of our launch vehicle. I also helped with research of mass
standard deviations and worked on the team’s logo design. My major and minor concentrations
are in Design and Dynamics & Controls, respectively. After graduation, I will commission as an
officer in the world’s greatest, Air Force where I will serve as an Air Battle Manager and report
to Tyndall Air Force Base, FL.
William Ling
In the Propulsion group, I was involved in the analysis of air launch methods. My first task was
to analyze the feasibility of balloon and aircraft launches. This ultimately led to the development
of a balloon design and cost model for our final design. I am an exchange student from
Melbourne, Australia studying for a double degree in Science and Aerospace Engineering. My
major in aerospace is Propulsion and my minor is Materials. I also have a Physics and an
Astrophysics major for my science degree. After graduation, I plan to work in a technical field,
eventually leading to a future administrative position. Slightly further down the line I would like
to study for a post graduate degree in Business and Management.
Timothy Lorenzana
I worked within the Avionics group. My tasks included creating a usable Range Safety
subsystem and analyzing the costs associated with it. I also worked on the Ground Tracking
analysis for our launch vehicle. This used signal theory and propagation to analyze the ground
track associated with the nominal trajectory of the vehicle. My major focus is on Structures and
Materials while my minor focus is on Propulsion. My expected graduation is to take place at the
conclusion of the Fall 2008 semester. After graduation, I hope to obtain work centered upon the
major focus of my education, whether within the aerospace field or not. Oh, and I want to do a
lot of traveling, I enjoy sightseeing (I know, I am a total tourist).
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Alfred Lynam
As a member of the Dynamics & Controls group, I did a significant amount of work in aircraft
dynamics and launch vehicle dynamics & controls. My undergraduate major and minor areas are
in Dynamics & Controls and Propulsion, respectively. After graduation, I will enroll in the
Masters degree Aerospace Engineering program at Purdue University and my intended graduate
major area is Astrodynamics with minor areas in Dynamics & Controls and Mathematics.
Stephanie Morris
I was a member of the Propulsion group and did research for the aircraft launch, noncatastrophic failure for hybrid propellants, and other basic hybrid propellant information. My
major concentration is in Propulsion and my minor concentration is in Design. After graduation,
in December, I plan to work in the industry.
Justin Rhodes
As part of the Avionics group, I was responsible for researching and designing the
telecommunications system for our launch vehicles. I also worked with the model analysis code,
implementing a set of scripts to enable automatic processing of multiple models. During the
project I also acted as webmaster, maintaining the project website and doing my best to keep
everything running smoothly. I am a Dynamics & Controls major with a minor focus in
advanced computing. Upon graduation I intend to start my own company, work for a few years,
then run off and join the Peace Corps.
Jessica Schoenbauer
I was part of the Structures group. I worked primarily on the skirt analysis for the launch vehicle
and the global buckling analysis. My major concentration is Structures and my minor is in
Dynamics & Controls. I am going to spend my summer relaxing and hanging out with the
family at home. Then I will be back in West Lafayette for the next year.
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Alan Schwing
I served as Project Manager for Project Bellerophon. My role involved coordinating the 41person team and I dabbled in a little bit of everything, though my chief responsibilities were risk
and cost. My major is Aerospace and my minor is Propulsion. After graduation, I will work at
NASA's Johnson Space Center in the Applied Aeroscience & CFD Branch.
Sarah Shoemaker
As a member of the Structures group, I helped with the initial compiling of the materials and cost
for the fuselage of the launch vehicle. I also did some initial analysis on the mounting of the
payload and the avionics. I helped with the design of the gondola-balloon configuration and I
developed the CAD of the gondola and the balloon for each payload. My major area is
Structures and my minor area is Design. After graduation I plan to attend Officer Candidate
School for the Marines. After OCS I plan to get commissioned and attend flight school and
become a helicopter pilot.
Stephan Shurn
I worked within the Propulsion group. I looked at rail gun feasibility and LITVC/Gimbaling for
the engines. My major area within AAE is Propulsion with a design minor. After graduation, I
will commission into the Air Force and enter Combat Systems Officer training at Randolph Air
Force Base in San Antonio, Texas.
Christopher Strauss
I created the initial sizing function used by the team until a more accurate model was created. I
also helped with CFD analysis in Fluent and CMARC and created the method for calculating the
drag standard deviation for risk assessment. My AAE major and minor concentrations are in
Propulsion and Aerodynamics, respectively. After graduation plans: not sure yet, but NASA
Marshall Space Flight Center is looking promising.
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Jeffery Stuart
I am a member of the Dynamics & Controls and CAD groups, primarily working on spin
stabilizing the third stage, the physical mechanisms of thrust vector control (TVC), and
integration of the full launch vehicle CAD models. My major and minor areas are Dynamics &
Controls and Design. After graduation, I will attend graduate school for Astrodynamics. My
overall career plans are to work on mission design for human spaceflight and robotic
interplanetary missions, with the goal of someday joining the astronaut corp of NASA or a
civilian agency.
Vincent Teixeira
As a member of the Structures group, my contribution to the design team consisted primarily of
the design and analysis of the nose cone, "Sarah" as well as the accompanying CAD. Due to the
joy of transfer credits, I do not actually have a specific major/minor within Aerospace
engineering. After finally graduating in May, I will be attending Officer Candidate School
(OCS) for the US Marine Corps.
Adam Waite
I was a member of the Dynamics & Control group and I helped with creating the main controller
and simulator. I also modified the steering law to guide the launch vehicle into orbit and helped
with choosing LITVC as the best method for implementing thrust vector control. My major
within AAE is Structures and my minor is Dynamics & Control. After graduation, I plan on
either working in the aerospace industry or taking a semester off and then starting law school.
Michael Walker
For this project, I was the group contact for the Dynamics & Controls group. I mainly worked on
the development and implementation of the D&C Six Degree of Freedom Simulator. My major
and minor concentrations are Dynamics & Controls and Propulsion, respectively. After
graduating in December 2008, I plan to continue my education in graduate school focusing on
Astrodynamics and Space Applications. I also plan to continue working at NASA Goddard
Space Flight Center on the Goddard Dynamic Simulator or other projects.
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Brandon White
I was the Structures group contact. During the semester I focused a lot of work on calculating the
inertia matrices for the launch vehicle. I also co-authored the first few revisions of the main
structures and tank buckling math models. In AAE, I am an Aerodynamics major and Structures
minor. After graduation I will enter the Edison Engineering Development Program at General
Electric Aviation in Cincinnati, OH.
Nicole Wilcox
I worked in the Propulsion group writing the codes for propellant sizing and cost, pressurant
sizing and cost, and design optimization. I also helped with CAD. My major is Propulsion with
a minor in Design. After graduation, I will remain at Purdue as a graduate student.
Alex Woods
I was a member of the Aerothermodynamics group and I was the primary designer of our
aerodynamic forces code. Within AAE, I'm a Propulsion major and an Aerodynamics minor.
After graduation, I'm going on vacation in Europe with the Purdue Jazz Band, and then I will
search for employment.
Danielle Yaple
I was the group contact for the Avionics team, a CADer and a coder for the model analysis. My
major in AAE is Dynamics & Controls and my minor is Aerodynamics. When I graduate, I will
enter active duty in the Air Force as a Developmental Astronautical Engineer and will be
stationed at Edwards Air Force Base in southern California.
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Jayme Zott
My most major contribution to the team was development of the coefficient of drag code. Second
to that was working on CFD. As it turns out, CFD was much harder to make work than initially
anticipated, so only results in the subsonic regime were completed. As for my studies as an Astro
engineer, I’m an Aerodynamics major, and a Dynamics & Controls minor. After graduating this
spring, I will begin working as an engineer in Whirlpool’s WERLD rotational program. I’ll get
to spend 6 months working abroad, and I will also get to go to graduate school for my Masters in
engineering in two years.