The NASA Suborbital Center of Excellence (SCE) was pleased to present a call for posters for a student poster competition. The technical theme of this competition is "Harnessing the Suborbital Advantage." There are many potential advantages in using Suborbital platforms. Suborbital platforms include balloons, sounding rockets, research aircraft (manned and remotely piloted vehicles), and small satellites. The SCE was looking for student posters that demonstrate the advantages of using these platforms.
The mission of the SCE is to promote science and engineering education and outreach, with the objective of increasing numbers of college graduates with an interest in suborbital programs as a career choice. The SCE focuses on engineering disciplines of most relevance for suborbital programs, such as electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, aerospace studies/engineering, and engineering technology. This student poster competition is a specific way of increasing student awareness of suborbital programs and to promote the Suborbital Advantage.
Posters are sought that best reflect the inherent advantages of employing suborbital systems. The topics in the call for posters reflect the broad areas of interest and applications that can be applied to suborbital systems. Topics of great interest include experimental reports and analytical results, as well as project overviews, in-depth technical reviews, trade studies, surveys, and historical research findings and evaluation results. Posters are sought on a wide range of suborbital topics related to all of the suborbital platforms, including balloons, sounding rockets, research aircraft (manned and remotely piloted vehicles), and small satellites. Topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
| Current and Planned Projects, Systems, Initiatives and Technologies | Scientific Research Missions |
| Research and Development | High Altitude/Stratospheric systems |
| Terrestrial and Extraterrestrial Missions | Defense/Military (including Homeland Defense) |
| Commercial Applications | Markets and Market Analysis |
| Economic and Business Analysis | Flight Operations & Ground Handling |
| Infrastructure & Logistics | Free-Flight Ballooning |
| High Altitude Operations and Systems | Safety Consideration |
| Analytical Studies, Modeling, and Simulation | Vehicle & Payload Thermal Analysis |
| Regulations and Standards | Manufacturing & Material Considerations and Methods |
| Reliability & Quality Assurance Processes | Test Methodologies (Static, Ground and Flight) |
| Platform Design & Innovations | Design & Structural Analysis |
| Infrastructure & Logistics | Research and Development |
An independent panel of judges will review posters and choose winners.
1st Prize
$200
2nd Prize
$100
The competition was open to all undergraduate and Master's-level graduate students in the United States. Participants will be expected to be available to present their posters and answer questions at some time during the day.
You need to submit a short one- or two-sentence description of your poster to Barbara Myers (bmyers@psl.nmsu.edu) by 5 p.m. on Monday, April 21st. Posters must be received no later than 5 p.m. on Monday, April 28th.
Posters may be a maximum of four feet wide by four feet high.
Submitted posters must include the following information on the BACK ONLY:
Posters must include the following information:
Make your poster appealing and interesting. Make it easy to read; use large fonts for titles (72-point works well). Fonts for text should be at least 24-point. Use mixed case and an easy-to-read font (Times, Palatino, or other serif font). Use illustrations, drawings, graphics or photographs where appropriate.
Monday April 21st at 3pm in room W2411 at the Physical Science Laboratory, Anderson Hall on the NMSU campus
Posters should be mailed or delivered to:
Suborbital Center of Excellence Student Poster Competition
Attn: Barbara Myers
Physical Science Laboratory
Box 30002, Stewart and Espina Sts.
Las Cruces, NM 88003-8002