March Newsletter

The middle of the spring semester is upon us. AIAA has been busy in preparation for Midwest Rocket Launch. There are a lot of events coming up, so please stay tuned!

First, there will be a Model Rocketry Seminar on Monday, March 2nd at 7:00 PM in the AIAA room. The AIAA room is Room 70 (in the basement) of 1410 Engineering Drive. Topics to be discussed will include propulsion devices, manufacturing techniques, stability and trajectory analysis. The main focus of the seminar will be on how to use Openrocket simulation software. This will be an excellent meeting to attend if you would like to pursue any sort of certification or would like to participate in rocketry competitions. Attached are the slides for the presentation.

 

Our Spring Break Trip is almost here! We will be traveling to New Orleans to see Michoud Assembly Facility as well as Stennis Space Center. Unfortunately, the sign up has closed. Due to low attendance, the Huntsville portion of the trip has been canceled. Hopefully in the future, there will be higher participation in spring trips.

We will be having a Friday After Class in conjunction with American Nuclear Society (ANS). The dates and professors who will be attending have not been confirmed, so stay tuned for more information!

On a similar note we will be participating in the annual PicNuke Picnic with ANS. This will tentatively be on Monday, April 27th at 5:00PM at the Vilas Park shelter. There will be free food for due paying members. This will be a picnic followed by a friendly softball game with ANS. Please consider attending so we will have enough people for the AIAA team (and so that we can beat ANS)!

AIAA will be having a booth at the Engineering Expo on April 3rd and 4th. Please fill out this form if you would like to help run the booth! This will be an excellent opportunity to talk to the public about AIAA and Engineering Mechanics.

There has been an interest in putting together a tour of Med Flight at UW hospital. This again will be for due paying members and will be an excellent opportunity to meet the pilots at Med Flight. Dates and times have not been confirmed for that. If you are interested, please fill out this form.

 

The executive people from AIAA have reached out to us asking if we would like to host an AIAA student conference in 2021 for Region III of the US. This would be a place where students could present research and network with other aerospace engineering students from the Midwest. Not to mention, students can win money for their research at these events. Nothing has been confirmed, but this could be a future opportunity for students. This year, the Region III student conference will be in Columbus, OH over March 27-28th.

 

Please pay your dues! Dues are $20 for the year and help cover the costs of travel, engineering competitions, and social events. You can venmo @WillDeVerter $20 or, pay in cash or check at a meeting. Please add the memo “AIAA Membership Fee” along with your full name in your Venmo payment or on your checks! If you would like to join the national AIAA organization (which everyone should) dues are $25 through the national AIAA website.

 

We will be having leadership elections in late April. The following positions will be open: President, Vice President, Treasurer, Spring Trip Coordinator, Outreach Coordinator. If attendance is low at the meeting, elections will be pushed back to the fall. Please stay tuned for updates on the date and time this will take place!

 

Again, MRL has weekly meetings at 2:00PM on Fridays in room 85 of 1410 Engineering Drive. Everyone is welcome at these meetings.

Listed below are the 2020 launch dates for Tripoli Wisconsin at Bong Recreational Area. All the launches are from 9:00AM-4:00PM.

 

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

 

Best,

 

Sam Jaeger

Engineering Mechanics and Astronautics

UW-Madison AIAA President

(608) 556-7514

sajaeger2@wisc.edu

 

Will DeVerter

Engineering Mechanics and Astronautics

UW-Madison AIAA Vice President

deverter@wisc.edu