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On one of the most beautiful days of the fall, over 40 people gathered to achieve (or cheer on) athletic greatness. With five teams of six players each, it was one of the best tournaments to date. A huge thanks to all those “friends of the lab” that spent their Saturday with us.

[Read more…] about MAESTRO and friends enjoy an afternoon of ruthless competition

For no good reason whatsoever, most graduate student members of the MAESTRO Lab decided to spend a morning at Skydive Spaceland (Houston) and make the leap from 14,000 feet together. The activity represented a number of diverse personal victories wrapped up into a most amazing team-building experience.

[Read more…] about “MAESTRO and Friends” go skydiving

After a fire has been extinguished, sprinklers often continue to spray for dozens of minutes or even hours. This can cause flooding and water damage to property, in addition to destruction from the fire itself. To prevent this additional damage, student researchers from Texas A&M University have partnered with the College Station Fire Department to create new sprinkler heads that individually turn off automatically once a fire has been put out.

This innovation was recognized with a first place win at the 2024 NASA Space to Pitch Competition. The competition requires students to form a team, identify a NASA technology with the potential to be applied to a large market, and develop an application and business plan for a potential startup around the chosen technology.

The winning Aggie team behind the new sprinkler technology, known as the SADI Control Systems team (named for their prototype), was inspired by a NASA patent that used technology known as shape memory alloys (SMAs), which change their shape in response to the surrounding temperature. The team used this technology to create a SMA-Actuated Deluge Interrupter (SADI) prototype. The SADI acronym was also chosen in honor of advisor Dr. Hartl’s wife Criseida (Crissy) Hartl.

[Read more…] about Undergraduate team advised by Hartl wins national NASA technology pitch competition

Texas A&M researchers will help engineer a solution using solar reflectors to get solar power to the bottom of lunar craters.

Near the moon’s south pole lies a 13-mile wide, 2.5-mile-deep crater known as Shackleton, named for Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton. Shackleton — and craters like it — may contain untapped resources that can be accessed with lunar mining.

Solar energy is the optimal energy source to power lunar mining since it does not need to be transported from Earth, but rather is beamed straight from the sun. The problem with using solar energy within craters is that even during the lunar day, some craters may be in complete shadow.  Led by Dr. Darren Hartl, an associate professor of aerospace engineering at Texas A&M University, researchers at Texas A&M have partnered with NASA Langley Research Center to engineer a solution using solar reflectors to get solar power to the bottom of lunar craters.

[Read more…] about MAESTRO Lab works with NASA to develop solar energy reflectors for lunar exploration

Members of the MAESTRO Team were recently given the opportunity to meet with the Secretary of the Air Force to discuss their research. Ph.D. students Mason Ward and Priscilla Nizio were invited to join Darren Hartl for a brief demonstration of aerospace technology focus areas and accomplishments.

[Read more…] about MAESTRO (almost) meets with the Secretary of the Air Force

Six members of the Texas A&M University faculty, including Dr. Darren Hartl, were honored with the University Professorships for Undergraduate Teaching Excellence (UPUTE). These awards are conferred upon the most accomplished teachers of undergraduates at the university. These professors are not only exceptional instructors, but also are innovators in pedagogy, exploring new teaching methods, and seeking engagement with other educators in pursuit of excellence.
[Read more…] about Hartl granted 2024 University Professorship for Undergraduate Teaching Excellence

When imagining what it’s like to be in outer space, many people think of experiencing zero gravity. An aspect that people may not think about is outer space’s extreme temperatures. According to NASA, the average low temperature at the moon’s equator is minus 208 F. For comparison, Earth’s lowest recorded temperature is minus 128.6 F, registered in July of 1983 at the Vostok weather station in Antarctica.

The moon’s equator has a temperature range of minus 208 F to 250 F, an almost 500-degree difference. As lunar exploration and the commercialization of space continue, finding a way to survive these extreme temperatures is a necessity.

Dr. Darren Hartl, associate professor of aerospace engineering at Texas A&M University, has partnered with NASA’s Glenn Research Center and Johnson Space Center to design a radiator that can adapt to the moon’s wide temperature range.

[Read more…] about Hot or Cold: MAESTRO Researchers Adapt to Lunar Extremes

The National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) fellowship process is highly competitive; any given engineering department may have only a few recipients in a given year. In March of 2024, the MAESTRO Lab found out that two of its own members had been selected. Undergraduate researcher Sarah Kinney and Ph.D. student Mason Ward were both granted support by the United States Air Force under this program. This brings the total number of current MAESTRO-affiliated NDSEG recipients to four (three under the Air Force, one under the Army).

[Read more…] about Two MAESTRO students awarded prestigious National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) fellowships

A team of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineers from Texas A&M is partnering with the College Station Fire Department (CSFD) to develop a device for reducing the water damage that can occur after fires have been extinguished by sprinklers.

[Read more…] about A new shape memory alloy concept for post-fire flood mitigation