Reassessment for Honors Qualification 

Applying Research

Self-Assessment: Qualifies for Honors

My project involved a simultaneous research and application.  As I learned more, gathered new data, and consulted with the numerous people that have assisted me, I revised my design.  Since its conception my design has changed several times.  I originally was going to use an old Soviet design for the orbiter, but I soon realized that it was not suited for my purposes.  I then wanted to use the Crew Rescue Vehicle NASA has in a prototype stage, but its airframe simply does not have room for the large engine bells required.  The engine configuration changed several times as I learned more about the advantages, and disadvantages, of different rocket propellants and engine specifications.  Who knows what Specific-Impulse means?  It took me a long time, and the assistance of Mr. Peters and some online contacts, to help me understand these, and other, important engine specifications.

I never thought of engineering as being creative.  To me, it has always been sheer computational skills and attacking the problem in a quantitative way.  I have since learned that engineering involves more than that, and that it does take creativity to put all these components and subsystems together in a way never done before.  A computer can't do that, and neither can a mathematical equation.  Mathematics told me whether my design could or could not work.  The computer could never me that I should use a Russian cargo plane in conjunction with a tripropellant engine that is attached to an U.S. airframe designed for a unmanned technology demonstrator to create a Crew Transfer Vehicle.  I cannot write a poem, draw a painting, or compose music, all obvious forms of creativity, but my synthesis of unrelated projects from around the world, plus my own ideas, is nothing short of creative.

While I cannot build even a mockup of my vehicle, what I have been able to do is place my ideas into CAD software.  This CAD software provides 3D views of the orbiter, fuel tank, and cargo plane in its various configurations.  2D schematics can also be derived from the 3D model, giving me visual representation of my vehicle that I could never duplicate by hand or explain to the same level of detail in my Subsystem Reports.

Mentor Assessment: Qualifies for Honors

Ryan's CTV design was sophisticated enough to present to engineers at NASA and BAE Systems.  I really like his reflection on creativity!