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Brian Russell Donius
Missouri University of Science and Technology
Marshall Space Flight Center
NASA Mentor: Mr. Joe Leahy
Abstract
As President Bush's vision for space exploration has progressed, NASA initiated the Altair project office to develop the technologies needed to land and leave the Moon and Mars. NASA MSFC is currently leading the Lunar Lander Descent Engine and supporting GRC on the Ascent Engine development. The tasks during the summer term were to support trade studies of the ascent engine development. The main objective was to expand the capabilities of current simulation software in the areas of performance and mass estimation when using hypergolic and soft cryogenic fuels.
NOTE: This internship was sponsored by NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate.
After two years of full time enrollment at Florissant Valley Community College, Brian Russell Donius transferred into the Mechanical and Aerospace Department at the University of Missouri Rolla in the fall of 2005. Brian was the recipient of two NASA Exploration Space Mission Directorate internships through Missouri Space Grant Consortium. First as a corporate intern at FastMetrix a firm founded by a UMR alumnus in the area of LIDAR technology applied to the Altair project. Secondly as a member of the propulsion branch of Marshall Space Flight Center working on both the Aries I and the Altair accent engine. He successfully completed his B.S. in Aerospace Engineering in the spring of 2008 and is now pursuing a Master degree in Aerospace Engineering. Brian is also the present president of the Society of Flight Test Engineers local chapter. Brian is currently researching dual mode space propulsion under Dr. Joshua Rovey and hopes to complete his thesis in the spring of 2010.
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