Michigan Aerospace

The Women in Aeronautics and Astronautics (WAA) student group has recently been announced as the recipients of the 2025 Elaine Harden Award, presented to the College of Engineering student organization that best exemplifies leadership and service to the community. Read more about their contributions over the past academic year here: https://lnkd.in/gGawhqCs #UMichAero

We are proud to announce that Professor Carlos Cesnik, the Richard A. Auhll Department Chair of Aerospace Engineering, has assumed the prestigious Francois-Xavier Bagnoud (FXB) Professorship, established by the Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Foundation in 1997. We are proud to have Professor Cesnik as a pivotal figure within the Department of Aerospace Engineering. With a long track record of excellence and groundbreaking research, this professorship recognizes his commitment to the university and the legacy behind the department. Read more about his work and the FXB Professorship here: https://lnkd.in/eemTdZkf #UMichAero

Do you have a favorite memory associated with the FXB Building? We invite you to share your unique perspective of the François-Xavier Bagnoud (FXB) Building and the beautiful North Campus by submitting your favorite FXB photos with us! Submit your photos for an opportunity to see your images featured in the Aerospace Engineering Department's marketing materials and on future social media posts. Submit by May 1st to be entered into a raffle to receive speciality Michigan Aerospace merch! A winner will be chosen and emailed by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 1, 2025. Submit your favorite images here: https://lnkd.in/g5qgrvPZ A special thank you to Alexander Kripfgans for submitting this photo to us! Note: You can only submit photos using your umich email with a max of 5 photos per submission. If you’d like to submit photos but do not have access to a umich email address, please email ae-social@umich.edu for a separate submission form link.

Last Thursday, April 17, the Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) Lab welcomed a team from the lab's long-standing industry partner, Belcan, to North Campus for a drone demonstration in the M-Air Facility. During the visit, students demonstrated their Mobile Modular Assistant (MoMoA) drone, taking on various flight challenges and networking with top Belcan representatives, including Ben Stirgwolt, Belcan's Director of Systems Engineering and MBSE. It was an honor to have the Belcan team join the lab for a beautiful Michigan spring day on North Campus! #UMichAero #UMichMBSE George Halow

We would like to take a moment to wish all of our incredibly hard-working students good luck on their final exams as they make the final push towards the end of the academic year. We are proud of all of their accomplishments and look forward to their future achievements. Now is the time to finish strong and go out with a bang!

Congratulations to all of the Aerospace Engineering 2025 Student Leaders and Honors Awards recipients! This year, our department had numerous award winners, recognizing their outstanding leadership and academic excellence at the University of Michigan. Please join us in congratulating the following students on their awards: - Peter Belkin: Distinguished Academic Achievement Undergraduate Award - Alexander Coppeans: Richard F. and Eleanor A. Towner Prize For Distinguished Academic Achievement - Alasdair Christison Gray: Richard F. and Eleanor A. Towner Prize For Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor - Peter Celani: The George M. Landes Prize for Technical Communication for First Years - Bryson DenUyl, Gary Gardella, Braeden Germundson, and Ben Wetzler: The George M. Landes Prize for Technical Communication Upper Division Congratulations to these students on all of their hard work and academic achievements! Read more about them and their awards here: https://lnkd.in/g2rhBTV9 #UMichAero

3D-printing metal parts could save weeks of downtime, but DARPA wants a way to certify how long they’ll last To find out how long 3D-printed metal parts are likely to last in the field, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is providing up to $10.3M to a University of Michigan College of Engineering-led team. When military equipment fails in remote locations, it can take weeks for a part ordered from the manufacturer to arrive. 3D printing, specifically laser powder bed fusion, or LPBF, is an expensive way to make parts, and they likely aren’t as sturdy as cold-forged parts. However, downtime is even more expensive in hours of lost work, so military agencies would like the option to commission locally made parts or bring along 3D printers themselves. The problem is guaranteeing longevity. Military parts undergo stringent testing, and usually the manufacturing process is so uniform that samples of one part made by a particular machine reliably represent how all such parts made by that machine will fare. This is not the case for LPBF, in which defects in the material structure are more common and more random. In LPBF, a bed of metal powder is hit with lasers so that it solidifies into a cross-section of the desired shape. Then, more powder is added and the lasers fuse the next layer to the first from below. This continues until the part is complete. One man makes selections on the touch screen of the 3D printer while another peers into the glass case. “Depending on which model of LPBF printer you use, you might get different microstructures and different properties. The laser spot size and laser power levels might be different. The scanning strategies might be different. These things change the quality of the part,” said Veera Sundararaghavan, U-M professor of aerospace engineering and principal investigator of the project. “Our aim is to guarantee the quality of the part as you print.” https://lnkd.in/epWRmAcq

Over the past semester, MASA successfully executed a coldflow campaign where we validated the integration of our engine Phoenix with the ground support equipment. These tests mark a critical milestone as we prepare for our upcoming hotfire in the Mojave Desert!

Congratulations to Abigail Areche on being named one of 35 students to earn the prestigious Patti Grace Smith Fellowship! This award-winning program is designed to accelerate the careers of future aerospace leaders, allowing recipients a summer internship at one of the nation’s leading aerospace companies. Learn more about Areche's journey and the fellowship here: https://lnkd.in/gHEVayNC #UMichAero

U-M researchers are ensuring 3D printed metal parts are durable and long lasting in the field through advanced testing and monitoring. The results could prevent delays typical of equipment repairs in remote locations. “It’s like giving 3D printing a crystal ball—predicting the lifetime of LPBF parts across platforms and turning critical part production into a low-cost, distributed dream,” said Michigan Aerospace professor Veera Sundararaghavan. Learn more [article] https://bit.ly/3EicP65