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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).

Mason Ward and Sarah Kinney were granted support to study two very different problems. Mason will explore aircraft shape adaptivity for selective cross-section reduction while Sarah will explore more efficient modeling techniques for hypersonic aerodynamic phenomena.

[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

After weeks of planning and effort, the MAESTRO “Hall of Scholars” has finally been completed. This small and special space features the achievements and honors the origins of our student researchers, past and present. All MAESTRO student defense announcements are proudly featured while a row of portraits places special focus on graduate fellowship winners from throughout the years (NSF, NDSEG, NSTGRO, SMART, and TAMU Fellowships). A pennant flag representing every graduate student’s undergraduate institution is exhibited along with a selection of items (samples and prototypes) from past research projects.

The room was substantially renovated by undergraduate research assistant Kristoffer Saeves, whose efforts and attention to detail are greatly appreciated.

In case you haven’t heard, being an engineering professor at an R1 university is the greatest job on earth.

MAESTRO director Darren Hartl was recently interviewed for an article in the Daily Beast addressing the upcoming flights of the NASA X-59 aircraft and the topic of sonic booms in general. The full article can be found here.

On October 14, 2022, Allen Davis concluded his Ph.D. journey by completing his doctoral degree in Aerospace Engineering under Dr. Darren Hartl. Allen joined the MAESTRO Laboratory after completing his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at Louisiana State University, and first completed a Masters of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering with a focus on damage-sensing particles for various structural systems. He has accepted a position as a Aerospace Engineer at NAVAIR (Patuxent River).

[Read more…] about Allen Davis becomes the latest Ph.D. graduate