ResearchER is published twice annually (Spring and Fall). Opinions expressed do not represent the official view of the university. Use of trade names implies no endorsement by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
EMBRY-R IDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY
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MEET THE EXPLORERS From space science missions to rare celestial events, Embry-Riddle researchers are pushing the boundaries of aeronautics
3 A Revolution in Aviation Fuel
8 Chasing Triton’s Shadow
16 New Solutions for Hip Dysplasia
20 Tech that Keeps Batteries Cool
CONTENTS
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IN EVERY ISSUE
8 After a stop at the Daytona Beach International Airport adjacent to Embry-Riddle, NASA’s SOFIA flew its first scientific mission over the Atlantic Ocean as researchers on board raced to observe a rare celestial event.
INNOVATORS 26 From the Bedside to the Bench Mindful of a key faculty
LETTER FROM LEADERSHIP 2 Maj Mirmirani spotlights Embry-Riddle’s goal to
become a leader in research and scientific communication.
mentor’s pivotal guidance, Kathy Lustyk pays it forward to her own students.
FEATURES
CAPSULES 3 A Revolution in Aviation
8 Chasing Triton’s Shadow Astronomers race to witness Neptune’s moon as it hides a background star.
12 Sensors in Space
16 Making Strides
20 Shape Shifters
Q&A 28 Calming the Waters The effects of climate change take shape in the Department of Mathematics Wave Laboratory.
Fuel • EagleSat-1 Launches • Beyond the Wild Blue Yonder • Hyperloop Team at Top Speed • Bringing Clean Water to Haiti • The World’s
Most Efficient Airport • Setting UAV Records
Researchers are working to help astronauts safely coexist with some dangerous neighbors — micrometeoroids and orbital debris.
Embry-Riddle researchers engineer new ways to fight a crippling condition: hip dysplasia.
Lightweight technology
FINAL APPROACH 29 Exploring Above and Beyond
INNOVATORS 24 Gale Force Success
keeps batteries cool, supporting eco-vehicles.
The Center for Space and Atmospheric Research pursues fundamental insights.
J. Gordon Leishman helps bring a world-class subsonic wind tunnel to Embry-Riddle.
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Cover photo: Project PoSSUM
CAPSULES
L E T T E R F R O M L E A D E R S H I P
VOLUME 2, NO. 1 ResearchER is published twice annually (Spring and Fall). Opinions expressed do not represent the official view of the university. Use of trade names implies no endorsement by Embry- Riddle Aeronautical University. Change address, unsubscribe or email the editor at ResearchER@erau.edu Copyright ©2018 Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Florida/Arizona/Worldwide 600 S. Clyde Morris Blvd. Daytona Beach, FL 32114 All rights reserved. SENIOR ADMINISTRATION INTERIM SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS AND RESEARCH AND DEAN OF THE COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, DAYTONA BEACH CAMPUS Maj Mirmirani VICE PRESIDENT, MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS Anne Broderick Botteri EDITOR ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT, NEWS AND RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS Ginger Pinholster SENIOR ADVISORS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ALUMNI AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATIONS Anthony Brown DIRECTOR, ALUMNI AND DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATIONS/EDITOR Sara Withrow CONTRIBUTORS Melanie Stawicki Azam Alan Cesar Deborah Circelli Becky Ham Melanie Hanns Kelly Pratt James Roddey PHOTOGRAPHY UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT P. Barry Butler
Dear Friends and Alumni,
In a 1977 Newsweek profile of Carl Sagan, award-winning science journalist Sharon Begley, now a senior science writer for STAT, famously wrote that “some- where, something incredible is waiting to be known.” Groundbreaking scientific research is also waiting to be communicated, which is why this edition of ResearchER explores Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s effort to capture data from a rare celes- tial opportunity — the recent eclipse, or “occultation” of a star, by Triton, Neptune’s largest moon (see Page 8). Also in this issue, you will learn about technology to protect astronauts working in inflatable space habitats (Page 12), a patented tech- nology that keeps batteries at a constant temperature (Page 20) and an effort to help infants with severe hip dysplasia avoid surgery (Page 16). Finally, I invite you to meet J. Gordon Leishman, one of our Distinguished Professors, who led an effort to design one of the most unique and capable university-level wind tunnels in the United States — the sub- sonic tunnel coming soon to Embry-Riddle’s Research Park (Page 24). Over the next few years, our goal is to emerge as a leader in research while maintaining our long-standing leadership in aeronautical and aviation education. We are excited about the new vision articu- lated by our sixth president — Dr. P. Barry Butler, former executive vice president and provost at the University of Iowa — and we are forging ahead to double our research enterprise within the next few years. Our investments toward this goal have included superior facilities, such as the John Mica Engineering and Aerospace Innovation Complex, or MicaPlex; a new STEM Education Center and the Jim and Linda Lee Planetarium on our Prescott Campus in Arizona; and a Cray ® CS™ cluster supercomputer.
The Eagle Flight Research Center at Embry-Riddle is serving as a testing ground for experimental unleaded fuels.
I t’s an ambitious goal — one that’s been seriously talked about for the last 13 years and could affect more than 150,000 aircraft in the United States. The goal? To remove lead from aviation gasoline (avgas). Two flight engineers at the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Eagle Flight Research Center (EFRC) in Daytona Beach, Florida, will help make that ambitious idea a reality, thanks to a $993,000 award from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). A Revolution in Aviation Fuel EMBRY-RIDDLE RESEARCHERS ARE HELPING THE AVIATION INDUSTRY MAKE THE SWITCH TO UNLEADED
States, according to the FAA and the Environmental Protection Agency. FAA Administrator Michael Huerta has said, “We’re on track to have unleaded aviation gasoline fully evalu- ated and ready to be authorized for use by the general aviation fleet in 2018.” NEW FUELS PUT TO THE TEST Testing the experimental fuels at the EFRC is the respon- sibility of Borja Martos, an accomplished flight engineer and research pilot, and Scott Martin, a senior scien-
Under Dr. Butler’s direction, the university also continues to provide significant internal funding to jump-start promising research. From simulations of rip currents (Page 28), to record-setting drone deliveries (Page 7) and plans for future high-speed mass transit (Page 5), Embry-Riddle researchers are busy expanding the bound- aries of knowledge. I hope you find some- thing remarkable on these pages to spark your curiosity. Your continuing support for our efforts remains critical to our success. I welcome your ideas for how we can achieve our most ambitious goals for both scientific advancement and communication.
tist and EFRC flight test pilot. Both researchers are excited to be working on this project to help create an aviation fuel with less environmental impact. The two engineers have been asked by the FAA to evaluate many aspects of how the new fuels interact with the aircraft fuel systems and engines, such as: How is the vapor pressure affected by altitude? Is the freezing point compatible with the current fuel? How do the new fuels’ different chemical components affect
MORE THAN 230,000 PISTON-ENGINE GENERAL AVIATION AIRCRAFT AROUND THE WORLD USE LEADED GASOLINE.
Carol Browne Marc Compere Ken Fagan
Daryl LaBello David Massey Connor McShane Terry Oswalt Denise Pomponio CREATIVE DIRECTION Trish Kabus PRODUCED BY CASUAL ASTRONAUT CASUALASTRONAUT.COM CREATIVE DIRECTOR Marc Oxborrow SENIOR EDITOR Colleen Ringer CHIEF CLIENT OFFICER Paul Peterson Embry-Riddle Aeronautical
In 2016, the FAA began its second and final phase of testing two 100-octane unleaded fuel formulations — one from Shell Oil Co. and one from Swift Fuels — as part of the Piston Aviation Fuel Initiative (PAFI) program. The initial two-year, phase one ground testing began with 17 different formulations from six fuel producers and was completed in 2015. The change to unleaded fuel would be the most sub- stantial change in avgas since the 1940s, when the mix- tures being used today were developed for airline and military radial engines with high levels of supercharging. There are more than 167,000 piston-engine general aviation aircraft in the United States (more than 230,000 worldwide) using avgas. It is the only remaining lead-containing transportation fuel in the country, and avgas emissions have become the largest contributor to lead emissions in the United
Sincerely,
seals or gaskets in the engine, hoses and pumps? The work is confidential, but Martos can acknowl- edge that he and Martin are using multiple aircraft in evaluating different performance categories during flight: cold and hot fuel performance, anti-detonation performance, fuel systems compatibility, engine power and performance, and engine start ability. Will the new formulations work for most of the gen- eral aviation aircraft with little or no additional hardware? Martos and Martin’s research over the next year will be an important part of the answer. / JAMES RODDEY
Dr. Maj Mirmirani INTERIM SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS AND RESEARCH AND DEAN OF THE COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, DAYTONA BEACH CAMPUS
University is an affirmative action/ equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, age, national origin, handicap, veteran’s status or sexual orientation. Nonprofit ID: 59-0936101 Member of the University Research Magazine Association urma.org
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EAGLESAT-1 LAUNCHES INTO ORBIT
join a recent PoSSUM mission that observed noctilucent clouds using a small, unpressurized aircraft flying high over the remote wilderness of northern Canada. The team also tested custom-built camera systems. The only research program of its kind, Project PoSSUM has collabo- rated with Embry-Riddle since 2015 to offer a spaceflight training program designed by former NASA instructors and university spaceflight operations faculty. PoSSUM astronaut candi- dates complete three weeks of online instruction and then an intense week- long program at the Daytona Beach Campus in Florida. After graduation, they conduct upper-atmospheric research, test prototype spacesuits and instrumentation, and serve as educators supporting PoSSUM Academy programs designed for younger students. Classroom instruction covers atmospheric science, remote sensing and spaceflight physiology. Students learn to work in high- altitude environments and how to use a next-generation spacesuit while operating PoSSUM instrumen- tation in the College of Aviation’s suborbital spaceflight simulator. They also study physiological adaptation to spaceflight with world-champion aerobatic pilot Patty Wagstaff. Back to the near future — a select group of citizen-scientists who have trained through Project PoSSUM will actually have a chance to travel beyond the wild blue yonder on a scientific mission to gather imagery of noctilucent cloud formations in a com- mercial, reusable manned suborbital spacecraft. And four Embry-Riddle students are hoping they are along for the ride. / JAMES RODDEY
The Arizona Hyperloop team’s pod placed well in an international design competition.
After two launch attempts were scrubbed earlier in the week, the third time was the charm: On Nov. 18, 2017, at 1:47 a.m. PST, a Delta II rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base bear- ing NASA’s Joint Polar Satellite System-1 and an Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University cube satellite (CubeSat) called EagleSat-1. EagleSat-1 was launched with a dual mission. MISSION #1: It was designed to analyze orbit decay, which is critical for tracking the fate of space debris in low Earth orbit. By tracking its movements, the Embry-Riddle research team can learn more about how small objects stay in orbit and how their orbits change over time. MISSION #2: Secondly, EagleSat-1 was built to test whether supercapacitors might replace rechargeable batteries in supplying power for satellites. Supercapacitors are electrical storage devices that can deliver a faster charge and withstand more charge and discharge cycles than batteries, making them useful for decadeslong space missions. EagleSat-1 is part of NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative, deployed for educational and research purposes. About 35 students con- tributed to the project over a five-year period. At press time, researchers were attempting to communicate with EagleSat-1. If successful, Project Manager Deborah Jackson and her team on Embry-Riddle’s Prescott Campus in Arizona will share their findings with NASA. / BECKY HAM
ARIZONA HYPERLOOP TEAMAT TOP SPEED
Project PoSSUM Executive Director Jason Reimuller works with student Rachel Weeks as she takes suborbital cloud samples in the space- flight simulator.
What’s about 15 feet long, weighs 1,000 pounds and might someday zip you from Phoenix to Los Angeles faster than a plane? It’s the “pod” designed by the Arizona Hyperloop team, and last summer it made an impressive showing in an international design competition hosted by rocket design company SpaceX. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University students Meaghan Moeller and Maciek Czyz recently described the challenges of designing this prototype transit vehicle during an event at the Jim and Linda Lee Planetarium on the Prescott Campus in Arizona. Czyz, Moeller and more than 100 other students designed, built and raced the pod. The Hyperloop may someday carry people and cargo between regional cities in a near- frictionless tube track, propelled by compressed air and magnetic accelerators, at speeds nearing Mach 1. The Arizona pod design placed fifth among 23 teams (chosen from more than 1,300 entries) competing in a test-track competition. The AZLoop pod was the highest-ranked design among first-time competitors. The team optimized the design of the air tanks, batteries and controls within their proto- type in order to accelerate as fast as possible for the competition. When the Hyperloop actually debuts, Czyz says, passengers won’t endure such a bone-jarring start. “There’s going to be a lot of room to build up speed, move at high speed for a long time, and then slow down gradually.” / BECKY HAM
Research Beyond the Wild Blue Yonder CITIZEN SCIENTIST-ASTRONAUT CANDIDATES PREPARE FOR SPACE SCIENCE MISSIONS
I n the near future, when suborbital spacecraft begin traveling to low Earth orbit, a group of citizen scientist-astronaut candidates who have trained at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University — people from around the world who have dreamed of going into space — will be on board for some of the first flights. The nascent space travelers will journey up to and through a layer of clouds — 50 miles above the Earth’s sur- face — formed of ice crystals seeded by fine debris from disinte- grating meteors. The travelers’ mission: to gather high-resolution 3-D imagery of noctilucent clouds in the mesosphere. This hard-to-study cloud layer, seen seasonally over both poles, is so high it glows at night from sunlight on the oppo- site side of the Earth. Imagery of these elusive “night-shining” atmospheric phenomena will be used to develop high-fidelity dynamical models that will help scientists better understand our changing global climate.
Before graduating from Embry-Riddle, Gavin James helped test a prototype spacesuit in zero gravity, as part of his Project PoSSUM experience.
Four Embry-Riddle students are a step closer to making the suborbital journey to space thanks to Project PoSSUM (Polar Suborbital Science in the Upper Mesosphere) — a subor- bital research, training and education program based in Boulder, Colorado, that evolved from a NASA-supported flight opportunity. Students Heidi Hammerstein, Amy Ramos, Karen Brun and Casey Stedman are all graduates of the PoSSUM spaceflight train- ing program. They were chosen to
Students in the NASA Space Grant Research Lab worked on Embry-Riddle’s first CubeSat, EagleSat-1.
LEARN MORE To get more information about this program, visit projectpossum.org .
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Bringing Clean Water to Haiti
WHAT’S THEMOST EFFICIENT AIRPORT IN THEWORLD?
installations had been designed for use with well water. Luckily, they were able to take parts from an older Embry- Riddle system, located about an hour away. “There was a lot of scrambling around. It was really engineering in action,” says mechanical engineering student Rachel Hunt. The team was already planning to use a reverse-osmosis filter, which has a semipermeable membrane to remove ions, molecules and particles larger than 0.0001 micron. The Helix disc filters, which are able to remove sediment and some bacteria, came from a sponsor, Miller-Leaman of Daytona Beach. Because the water was so contam- inated, however, the students also took “THERE WAS A LOT OF SCRAMBLING
NEW ENGINEERING PLAN, REDESIGNED OVERNIGHT, KEEPS OUT CONTAMINANTS
In 2017, the Air Transport Research Society (ATRS) recognized Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport as the world’s most efficient airport. That conclusion was based on an assessment of 206 airports and 24 airport groups spanning North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific directed by Chunyan Yu, professor of air trans- port management with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s College of Business in Daytona Beach, Florida. Yu presented the results
W ith schematics and parts for a helping a Haitian community gain access to clean water. But when the team arrived in Drouin — which has no elec- tricity, plumbing or sanitation — the drinking water was worse than expected. Instead of water flowing from an underground aquifer into a well, it was coming from the Artibonite River, which was contaminated with raw sewage containing the bacteria Vibrio cholerae , as well as E. coli and other water- borne pathogens. The group of 11 students and two professors had to redesign the system overnight since their plans and previous water-purification system in suitcases, a team from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Daytona Beach Campus in Florida took off for an eighth year of
Setting Records EMBRY-RIDDLE SUPPORTS THE LONGEST UAV URBAN PACKAGE DELIVERY IN THE UNITED STATES
another filter from the older system to remove even more particles before filtering the water through the reverse-os- mosis membrane. Three months later, the team returned and installed yet another prefilter after the system clogged. Joe Noto, an aerospace engineering
AROUND. IT WAS REALLY ENGINEERING IN ACTION.”
of the 2017 Global Airport Performance Benchmarking Task Force Report during the ATRS World Conference in Antwerp, Belgium. The report com- pares productivity, efficiency, unit costs, cost competitiveness, financial results and airport charges at each airport. College of Business students compiled and ana-
Chunyan Yu
E mbry-Riddle Worldwide faculty, staff, students and The new world record was completed on May 5, 2017 in Austin, Texas, by a Nevada unmanned aerial systems (UAS) consortium called Team Roadrunner, which flew the HQ-40 — a fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Using cellular connectivity, the 143-minute, 54-second flight traversed exactly 97.592 miles. graduates recently took part in a world record-breaking unmanned aerial package delivery destined to make future drone delivery a reality.
master’s student and president of Project Haiti 2017, says the team underestimated the river-water challenge. Despite the group’s high-tech plans, time and gravity proved the best approach through the use of a sedimenta- tion tank. By running the system once weekly, they found that sedimentation fell to the bottom of the tank, prevent- ing it from going into the system. In addition to the purifier, the team
installed a 3.5-kilowatt solar panel and backup battery system to power the well and purifier. The well pumps water from the river into a 500-gallon storage tank. The water then moves through the Helix filters and through a carbon filter to remove odor and bad tastes. The reverse-osmosis purifier pushes the clean water into another 500-gallon tank while the pathogens are routed back into the river. Special color gauges signify when the filters need cleaning. The 2017 project team also included Marc Compere, associate professor of mechanical engineering; Geoffrey Kain, professor and director of Embry-Riddle’s Honors Program; and students Calli Brown, Felina Chotoo, Noah Driggers, Audrey Hallam, Zahra Khan, Fevens Louis-Jean, Dynamite Obinna, Jon Prine and Daniel Tellez. / DEBORAH CIRCELLI
Launched from the central Texas location, the UAV flew a preplanned route through the National Airspace System (NAS) using mobile com- mand and control combined with visual observers along the flight path, who relied on enhanced radios and cellphone communications.
Test Site (Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems), Volans-i UAS, Latitude UAS, AUV Flight Services and an Embry-Riddle Worldwide contingency. The Embry-Riddle group, led by Associate Professor Scott Burgess,
97.592 MILES
lyzed the data, supervised by a 16-member task force, including Yu who has been a member since the task force began at The University of British Columbia in 2000. The project moved to Embry-Riddle in 2014, following a competitive bidding process. “The report provides an unbiased, comprehensive assessment of airports,” explains Yu, co-author of two books on air- line efficiency. “The goal is to help airports improve their overall performance and operate as efficiently as possible.” In Antwerp, College of Business Dean Michael Williams presented the Efficiency Excellence Award to Balram Bheodari, dep- uty general manager of the Atlanta airport. / GINGER PINHOLSTER
Distance covered by Team Roadrunner’s record-breaking unmanned aerial package delivery.
included Windham and Adjunct Assistant Professor Chris Walach, who also serves as director of the FAA- designated Nevada UAS Test Site, plus more than a dozen students and alumni. “Projects such as this not only allow hands-on experience, but they also align with our university’s commitment to being the leader in aviation innova- tion,” Burgess says. / MELANIE HANNS
“Embry-Riddle has always been at the forefront of revolutionizing the aviation industry,” says Kandi Windham, Embry-Riddle Worldwide’s Houston- based campus director. “Participating in unmanned research and testing is an exciting, unique experience.” Team Roadrunner consisted of the FAA-designated Nevada UAS
The Project Haiti 2017 team redesigned a water filtration system overnight to help give one Haitian community access to clean water.
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Opposite page: Pilot Dean Neeley, an Embry-Riddle Worldwide graduate, reviews the flight plan. This page: A highly modified 747 “Special Performance” aircraft, SOFIA can fly at a maximum altitude of 45,000 feet and above 99 percent of the Earth’s atmospheric water vapor — a benefit since the water vapor blocks infrared light from astronomical objects, making them difficult to detect using ground-based telescopes.
ASTRONOMERS RACE TO WITNESS NEPTUNE’S MOON AS IT HIDES A BACKGROUND STAR
BY GINGER PINHOLSTER
--------------------------------- WEDNESDAY, OCT. 4, 2017 AFTERNOON IN CENTRAL FLORIDA ---------------------------------
If the skies cleared, Bert Kallio, an Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University graduate student, knew he would have no more than two minutes to witness a rare celestial event. It was a long shot, given the rain that had lashed Florida all day, but Kallio, with Embry-Riddle research assistant Cody Shaw and Tim Brothers of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), drove a portable telescope west from Daytona Beach, Florida. By late afternoon, they had reached the Rosemary Hill Observatory near the University of Florida at Gainesville. Like astronomers worldwide, they were racing to capture images of Triton, Neptune’s largest moon, as it blocked the light from a background star, tossing a shadow like an enormous, dark curtain across much
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TRITON OCCULTATION DATA SHOULD PROVIDE DETAILS ABOUT TRITON’S TENUOUS NITROGEN ATMOSPHERE AS WELL AS CLUES TO ITS MYSTERIOUSLY WRINKLED SURFACE.
of the Earth’s Northern Hemisphere. Embry-Riddle researchers and their colleagues at MIT, Williams College and Lowell Observatory were at the forefront of a global effort to document Triton’s eclipse, or “occulta- tion,” of a star called UCAC4 410-143659. Kallio, Shaw and Brothers scrambled to set up their instruments before sunset. “We were ready in time and it was clear,” Kallio recalls. But then came heartbreak: One last cloud rolled through. “We were hoping it would pass, but it didn’t.” EMBRY-RIDDLE STAYS IN THE GAME Fortunately, Embry-Riddle researchers were still in the occultation race, thanks to faculty member Terry Oswalt’s founding role in a scientific consortium called SARA — the Southeastern Association for Research in Astronomy. Oswalt, chair of the physical sciences department and a professor of engineering physics, called on key research partners within the SARA network to point another ground- based telescope at Triton — in particular, one located in the Canary Islands, off the northwestern coast of Africa. At the same time, following a historic stop at Embry- Riddle and the Daytona Beach International Airport, NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) — a modified 747SP equipped with a 2.5-meter, 17-ton infrared telescope — zoomed toward the centerline of Triton’s shadow, as part of the aircraft’s first scientific mission to be flown over the Atlantic Ocean. Aboard SOFIA was Embry-Riddle collaborator Michael J. Person, a research scientist at MIT and direc- tor of the Wallace Astrophysical Observatory. --------------------------------- WEDNESDAY, OCT. 4, 2017 AFTER SUNSET, DAYTONA BEACH --------------------------------- Inside Embry-Riddle’s observatory, graduate student Margaret Gallant was operating the university’s research- grade, 1-meter telescope. To precisely align it with Triton, she took cues from Associate Professor of Physics
“That was disappointing, but it was a great experience overall. I operated a meter-class telescope, and I worked with an amazing team of researchers from other schools.” --------------------------------- THURSDAY, OCT. 5, 2017 AFTER DARK, LA PALMA, CANARY ISLANDS --------------------------------- West of Morocco, atop a volcanic mountain on the island of La Palma, the sky was vivid with stars: a per- fect, clear night, says researcher Javier Licandro of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, a member of the SARA network. But a missing adapter meant collaborator Stephen Levine, an astronomer and Discovery Channel telescope scientist with the Lowell Observatory, couldn’t get his high-speed camera properly attached to the La Palma telescope. He engineered a last-minute solution and hoped for the best. After that, all Licandro and Levine could do was sit and watch. As Triton appeared to merge with the background star, it became increasingly faint, and after about two minutes, it brightened again. “Yes, yes, yes!” Licandro recalls saying. SUCCESS ABOARD SOFIA Levine and Licandro didn’t see the “central flash” — a burst of light at the shadow’s centerline when the fore- ground object’s atmosphere bends and magnifies the background starlight in an observer’s direction.
But high above the Earth’s water vapor, SOFIA recorded a strong central flash in four wavelengths, says MIT’s Person. He was roaming among three instrument teams: a Lowell Observatory group operating dual high-speed cameras called the High-Speed Imaging Photometer for Occultations (HIPO); researchers with
From left to right, pilots Dean Neeley and Emmanuel E. “Manny” Antimisiaris joined flight engineer Matt Pitsch in SOFIA’s cockpit for a test flight prior to the Triton occultation event.
and Astronomy Ted von Hippel, as well as from Jay Pasachoff, the Field Memorial Professor of Astronomy at Williams College, and his team (student Christian Lockwood and former student Allen Davis). Von Hippel had opened the observatory’s lower shut- ter, leaving the upper hatch closed to keep the telescope dry. Gallant aimed the instrument at the horizon. “It was drizzling,” she says. “They were telling me, ‘Go north — more north.’ So despite the rain, I pointed the telescope until enough GPS satellites were in sight to get timing and location data.” Pasachoff had equipped Embry-Riddle’s telescope with an ultra-high-speed camera called a Portable Occultation, Eclipse and Transit System (POETS), which captures an image every three seconds. Linked with GPS data, it could provide details about Triton’s tenuous nitrogen atmosphere as well as clues to its mysteri- ously wrinkled surface. A moon larger than Pluto, Triton appears to be covered in a mix of nitrogen, water and carbon dioxide ices, sculpted by wind and cryogeysers spewing liquid nitrogen. “During an occultation,” Oswalt explains, “the way the background star dims is a sensitive probe of the density and composition of the foreground object’s atmosphere. It can also give us very sensitive measurements of Triton’s size and shape.” Researchers also wanted to know how Triton’s climate had changed since its last documented occultation in 2001. But the clouds wouldn’t budge. “There was a moment when we realized it was over,” Gallant says.
the German Aerospace Center, which had a focal plane imaging (FPI+) camera; and the First Light Infrared TEst CAMera (FLITECAM) team from the University of California, Los Angeles. “When the background star’s light started to fade,” Person says, “there was a big cheer, and then when the light came up again, there was excitement and chatter, followed by more cheering when we had the central flash.” What happens next? “It was three minutes of data-gathering,” Levine says. “Now we’re looking at three to six months of analysis.”
CONFIRMING “EINSTEIN RINGS”
new tool for determining the masses of objects” that are otherwise difficult to measure. Gravitational microlensing by a star forms a perfectly circular ring of light — a so-called “Einstein ring.” Sahu’s group observed a more common scenario: two objects that were slightly out of alignment, forming an asymmetrical version of an Einstein ring. “The ring and its brightening were too small to be measured, but its asymme- try caused the distant star to appear off-center from its true position,” Oswalt explains. “Sahu’s team was the first to observe this ‘astrometric lensing’ in a star other than the sun.”
Terry Oswalt
In other astronomy news that generated global headlines, Embry-Riddle’s Terry Oswalt provided an invited review to the journal Science on research that con- firmed a phenomenon called “gravita- tional microlensing.” Whenever light from a distant star passes a foreground object, Albert Einstein predicted, gravity should bend and brighten the starlight, similar to the way a lens focuses light. In his June 9, 2017, Science article, Oswalt wrote that Kailash C. Sahu’s research “provides a
Left: Student Margaret Gallant and Ted von Hippel, associate professor of physics and astronomy, operate Embry- Riddle’s research- grade telescope. Top: SOFIA is equipped with a 2.5-meter infrared telescope.
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RESEARCHERS ARE DEVELOPING TECHNOLOGIES TO HELP ASTRONAUTS SAFELY COEXIST WITH SOME DANGEROUS NEIGHBORS — MICROMETEOROIDS AND ORBITAL DEBRIS
MONITORING HEALTH, DETECTING IMPACTS A team of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University faculty and graduate student researchers, led by Aerospace Engineering Professors Daewon Kim and Sirish Namilae, are helping NASA answer questions about the feasibility of humans living in these balloon-like structures beyond the Earth’s grasp. Kim’s research has focused on developing and refining smart material sensors that are used to detect stress or damage in critical structures, such as automobile motors or the wings of aircraft. Namilae, working in the fields of solid mechanics and materials science, has worked for years with an exceptional material called carbon nanotubes. These microscopic hollow tube-like structures of graphene (think: pencil lead) have countless uses — every- thing from lightweight body armor to growing biological tissue to making the next generation of TV screens. Now, Kim and Namilae are creating a new generation of sensors using a type of carbon nanotubes called buckypa- per that is sensitive enough to detect the impact of even the smallest MMOD. Carbon nanotubes, which are the main component of buckypaper, are 50,000 times thinner than a human hair and 500 times stronger than steel. With buckypaper, layers of nanotubes are loosely bonded to form a paper-like thin sheet. Buckypaper owes its name to Buckminsterfullerene, a molecule composed of 60 carbon atoms shaped like the geodesic domes championed by architect and futurist Buckminster Fuller. What if, Kim and Namilae wondered, thousands of these tiny sensors could be used to coat a large flexible mem- brane on, say, an inflatable habitat in space? They might more accurately monitor strain to the structure and pinpoint impacts from nearly invisible micrometeoroids. The Embry-Riddle team is now building highly sensitive strain sensors which offer unique electromechanical, or “piezoresistive,” properties when subjected to mechanical deformations. “It was Sirish’s idea to use buckypaper,” Kim says. “And when we experimented with adding micrometer-sized graphite platelets to our original carbon nanotube/epoxy mix, it boosted the sensitivity of the sensors.” Kim and Namilae — with colleagues at LUNA Innovations, a leading fiber optics sensing company — were awarded a $125,000 Phase I grant in 2016 to begin work on two differ- ent sensor prototypes to enable structural “health monitor- ing” as well as impact detection for inflatable space habitats.
A T F I R S T , inflatable habitats in orbit around Earth may sound like a dangerous idea, given that the vacuum of space is littered with, as NASA says, “millions of pieces of human-made debris or space junk consisting mainly of fragmented rocket bodies and spacecraft parts created by 50 years of exploration.” Most space debris is tiny — almost microscopic — but there are also millions of naturally occurring objects in orbit called micrometeoroids. NASA must often move the International Space Station (ISS) away from larger pieces of space debris — the half-million objects in Earth’s orbit that are larger than a marble. Imagine the consequences of a micrometeoroid or a piece of space junk half that size, moving at 22,000 miles per hour as it strikes an inflatable space habitat. THE RISKS OF MMOD Micrometeoroids and orbital debris (MMOD) may seem innocuous because of their small size, but at speeds aver- aging 10 kilometers per second, they can become killers. In fact, they are the top hazard facing spacecraft, satellites and astronauts, NASA says. As NASA describes it: “A 1-centimeter paint fleck is capable of inflicting the same damage as a 550-pound object traveling 60 miles per hour on Earth. A 10-centimeter projectile would be comparable to 7 kilograms of TNT.” Despite such hazards, NASA has been designing inflat- able space habitats since the 1960s. Today, there are at least three inflatable structures orbiting Earth. One was launched in 2006. Another has been docked to the ISS since April 2016. It’s hoped that soft-sided, expandable, interconnected modules may provide a cost-efficient, safe way to keep people in orbit around the Earth, in a colony on the moon or in an inter-solar spacecraft as it carries explorers to Mars.
From left to right: Sirish Namilae, Sandeep Chava, Audrey Gbaguidi, Daewon Kim and Muhammad Anees work on nanocomposite sensors used to detect micrometeor strikes in inflatable space habitats.
Namilae is also developing a computational modeling algorithm to gather data from the sensors when an MMOD impact occurs, including its severity and the exact location on the sensing layer. Soon, a crucial test will take place at the University of Dayton Research Institute’s Hypervelocity Impact Facility: 3 mm projectiles will be fired at hypersonic speeds (3 to 5 miles per second) at the sensor array, which will be embedded in multiple impact-resistant layers separated by vinyl polymer foam — materials similar to what’s being used for the ISS module. “We also have to show that our sensor materials are space-worthy and figure out how much power the sensor array will use,” Namilae says. The ultimate goal is a possible Phase III grant to commercialize the sensor technology with NASA and NASA affiliates, but the research also offers more down- to-Earth benefits. “We hope that our work will lead to applications of our sensors in space, but the thing I value most in this process is our students having an opportunity to learn and grow as scientists and create new knowledge,” Namilae says.
KEEPING SPACE HABITATS INFLATED The expandable structure currently docked at the ISS, built by Bigelow Aerospace, is made of several sheets of flexi- ble Kevlar-like materials with closed-cell vinyl polymer foam between the layers. In a configuration like this, the structural shell is expected to provide excellent MMOD impact and radi- ation protection, superior to existing metal structures in space. LUNA began modifying its patented high-definition fiber optic strain sensors to be embedded into one of the multiple interior walls of a space module. The Embry-Riddle researchers began work on their carbon nanotube sensors to cover multiple outer layers. NASA requested sensors that could detect and pinpoint the impact of MMOD up to 3 millimeters in diameter traveling up to 6 miles per second. Graduate students Jiukun Li and Sandeep Chava helped design, build and test the impact sensors. Two other grad students, Muhammad Anees and Audrey Gbaguidi, worked on space applications of the sensors. In static tests, the team successfully demonstrated dynamic impact detection with the sensors. LUNA and the Embry-Riddle research team have now begun Phase II testing, having received an additional $750,000. Their goal this time is to increase the capabilities of the sensing technologies. “Our biggest current challenge is embedding these smart sensors into a flexible and compliant material that can expand as the modules are inflated in space,” Kim says.
Previous spread: Docked at the International Space Station, an expandable habitat developed by Bigelow Aerospace uses layers of tough, flexible materials that offer protection from micrometeroids and orbital debris, as well as from radiation.
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Eduardo Divo and student Kristin Sverrisdottir
EMBRY-RIDDLE RESEARCHERS ENGINEER NEW WAYS TO FIGHT A CRI PPLING CONDITION
MAKING STRIDES
IN HIP DYSPLASIA RESEARCH
BY MELANIE STAWICKI AZAM
WHEN Tori Parr was born, the nurse heard the newborn’s left hip click. A sonogram done when the infant was just 1 day old revealed she had hip dysplasia. “Tori is our firstborn, female and was breech, which are all high risk factors for hip dysplasia,” says her mother, Lauren Parr, an Orlando, Florida, attorney. Tori went home from the hospital in a Pavlik harness, which she wore nonstop for a month to correct the condition. Now she is nearly a year old and taking her first steps. “We just had her one-year appointment, and her hips are still in place,” Lauren says. “We were very lucky. She didn’t have to have surgery.” Not all babies born with hip dysplasia are so fortunate. Many infants, especially those with more severe cases or cases diagnosed late, do not see their condition corrected with the Pavlik harness, which is a much less invasive and costly alternative to surgery. That is why Eduardo Divo and Victor Huayamave, who are researchers in Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s growing biomedical sys- tems field, are investigating new ways to improve hip dysplasia treatment in infants. The research received funding from the International Hip Dysplasia Institute (IHDI) and the Paul B. Hunter and Constance D. Hunter Charitable Foundation.
Victor Huayamave
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“Severe developmental dysplasia of the hip is a condition for which we want to find a solution that is effective, inexpensive and does not involve surgery,” says Divo, Ph.D. program chair and interim department chair for mechanical engineering. Working in collaboration with IHDI and University of Central Florida (UCF) faculty, Divo and Huayamave are using 3-D computer modeling to simulate hip dysplasia reduc- tion dynamics with the Pavlik harness and also to look for different engineering solutions. The biomechanical research studies seek a better understanding of how various hip dysplasia treatments and positions affect the hips and also focus on improvements in nonsurgical treatments. “The research being conducted at Embry-Riddle has a strong possibility of improving the mechanical function
COLLABORATING TO MEET A GLOBAL NEED Hip dysplasia is a condition where the hip socket is shallow or the wrong shape, resulting in the joint wearing out faster. Approximately two to three children per 1,000 need treat- ment for hip dysplasia, according to the IHDI. Common in infants, hip dysplasia can range from mild instability that resolves spontaneously to complete dislo- cation that may require surgery. The Pavlik harness is very effective for babies younger than 6 months of age, when the hips are most malleable, Price says. But many babies go undiagnosed. At 8 months, infants often need surgery, Price says, and after 18 months, every child needs surgery because bone deformity develops. “The real sweet spot is to find a harness we can apply for children between 6 to 18 months of age,” Price says. “If we can improve nonsurgical treatment for those
of modern braces,” says Charles Price, M.D., a pediatric orthopedic surgeon and IHDI director. “It has real potential to extend nonsurgical treatment to older children, in addition to improving success rates for newborn infants.”
up to 18 months, then we’d make a huge dif- ference and help the developing world. In the developing world, most children are not diagnosed until they are walking and have a limp.”
“WE WANT TO FIND A SOLUTION
Researchers from Embry-Riddle and the University of Central Florida are working together to find engineering solutions for hip dysplasia.
THAT IS EFFECTIVE AND INEXPENSIVE AND DOES NOT INVOLVE SURGERY.”
Divo and Huayamave are working with UCF Engineering Professors Alain Kassab and Faissal Moslehy on computer modeling aimed at
improving the Pavlik harness to help more children with severe hip dys- plasia. Exchanging files for a common database, the two teams are investigating multiple aspects of the condition. “This project required a new way of looking at
of mechanical engineering. “We’re trying to use a combination of the harness, plus other methods, to help doctors successfully treat children with severe cases of hip dysplasia. One approach is hyperflexion of the hip.” For the research, a 3-D model of a 10-week-old girl was created, based on CT scans and MRIs, and researchers looked at five key adductor muscles, which pull body parts inward toward the midline. Their model indicated it is pos- sible to achieve reduction of severe hip dysplasia by hyper- flexion and resultant external rotation. This is significant, since the Pavlik harness effectively reduces lower-grade hip dysplasia about 92 percent of the time, but has just a 2 percent reduction rate in patients with severe hip dysplasia. FURTHER RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES Embry-Riddle researchers are also looking at different aspects of femoral anteversion (an inward twisting of the thigh bone) as related to the reduction of dysplasia, Huayamave says. Embry-Riddle students are involved in the research as well, including graduate students Anthony Khoury and Jansyn Johnston. “The human body doesn’t respond to the same engi- neering principles that materials do,” Khoury says. “It’s very complex and really keeps you on your toes.”
Johnston, president of the university’s Biomedical Engineering Society, says she likes that biomedical engineering has a direct impact on society. “And there is a lot of variety,” she says. “It’s a large and broad field.” Divo and Huayamave want to involve more students in their research. In May, they applied for the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Research Experiences for Undergraduates program, which would provide about $300,000 for paid summer undergraduate research posi- tions for 12 students. The research had previously received $340,000 in NSF funding, part of which Divo brought with him to Embry-Riddle in 2013. Eventually, Embry-Riddle’s research could not only help infants, but adults, too. Nine out of 10 cases of hip dysplasia are diagnosed during adolescence or adult- hood, Price says. This silent form of hip dysplasia is the most common cause of hip arthritis in women younger than 50, and the reason for up to 10 percent of all total hip replacements in the U.S. “Embry-Riddle’s modeling is very adaptable to the adult deficient hip,” Price says. “Hip dysplasia is definitely a crippling disorder, and I can’t think of a single disorder that is so amenable to a mechanical cure. As a true mechanical disorder, this is it.”
EDUARDO DIVO, EMBRY-RIDDLE PH.D. PROGRAM CHAIR AND INTERIM DEPARTMENT CHAIR FOR MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
a medical problem,” Price says. “The engineers at Embry- Riddle are very innovative in this type of cross-disciplinary collaboration.” SEARCHING FOR SUCCESS FOR THE MOST SEVERE CASES Additionally, Divo and Huayamave are the first to conduct a biomechanical analysis of bracing techniques, Price says. They are studying how babies are carried and the devices worn to carry them. They are then examining how the different mechanics impact baby hip development and hip dysplasia. In research published by the Journal of Biomechanics , Divo, Huayamave and their colleagues computationally validated the usefulness of a nonsurgical approach for reducing dysplasia. The technique — hyperflexion combined with external leg rotation — involves simply manipulating a baby’s leg and hip in a particular manner. “The Pavlik harness is mainly built to treat and correct mild dislocations, but for severe cases, it just doesn’t work mechanically,” says Huayamave, assistant professor
Lauren Parr and her daughter, Tori.
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LIGHTWEIGHT TECHNOLOGY
KEEPS BATTERIES COOL,
SUPPORTING ECO-VEHICLES
BY ALAN CESAR
High-density polyethylene pellets could help make phase- change material 3-D printable.
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When using a PCM, it’s the changeover from solid to liquid that has the power to control temperature. “As long as you haven’t gotten past the melting point, you haven’t really degraded the material’s capacity. It’s the latent heat of fusion that’s magic,” Currier says. PCM isn’t new, but it’s proved challenging to use to cool batteries because it turns liquid under use. For EcoCAR 3, the team purchased large battery modules and began look- ing for a method to extract the heat from them. They melted a batch of PCM pellets and poured it into a tray cut from a solid block of aluminum. By combining differ- ent grades of off-the-shelf PCM, they made a custom batch that melts at the perfect temperature for the car’s needs — in this case, 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit). It’s topped with a rubber seal and another aluminum plate, completely containing the PCM inside. This cold plate is lighter and simpler than a water-
acts as a fail-safe. The design was successfully tested in the EcoCAR 3 competition in desert temperatures in Yuma, Arizona. Boetcher and her collaborators have received a U.S. patent for their PCM cold plate. GOOD ENOUGH IS NEVER ENOUGH Boetcher and her students — Thomas Freeman, a master’s student in mechanical engineering, along with Tami Green and Sam Yaney, undergrads studying mechanical engineering — are looking to take PCM research a step further and make it 3-D printable. This is where the space and equipment in the Thermal Laboratory comes fully into play. “What we’re trying to do with the new research is actually mix the PCM with HDPE [high-density polyethylene], which is the stuff they make milk jugs out of. It’s a plastic,” Currier says. “That way, when you heat it, it doesn’t turn into a liquid and go everywhere. It holds its shape.” They dye the PCM blue so they can tell if the mixture is homogenous, but combining the materials has proved more difficult than melting them together, Green says. “We can’t just separately heat these two elements and hand-mix them. They have very different melting points, so we were trying to depress the viscous HDPE with a very, very liquid PCM. It just goes into suspension.” By putting the plastic and the PCM into a filament extruder, the team has been able to create a string that’s a combination of the two materials. They’re using a differential
HEN RUN AT THEIR LIMITS, BATTERIES GET HOT. It’s a reality that all hybrid and electric cars must overcome. Typically, they do so with complex cooling systems. The
work of faculty and student researchers at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University aims to eliminate the need for these complicated systems, making electric cars lighter and cheaper to manufacture. Sandra Boetcher, associate professor of mechanical engineering, and her mechanical engineering students are conducting research into phase-change materials — compounds that can absorb large amounts of energy while maintaining a constant temperature. With implementation input from Associate Professor Patrick Currier’s EcoCAR team, Boetcher’s group — working in the newly built
cooled system. “It doesn’t take any energy to run,” Currier says. “We’re not wasting power cooling things. This is a totally passive system, so The cold plate is sized to absorb the heat released by the batteries in nearly all scenarios. That heat radiates into the air, and a small, traditional water-cooling system
THIS COLD PLATE IS
LIGHTER AND SIMPLER THAN A WATER-COOLED SYSTEM: “UNLESS IT LEAKS, IT CAN’T FAIL.”
Thermal Laboratory at the John Mica Engineering and Aerospace Innovation Complex (MicaPlex) — hopes to create something that’s light, cost-effective and easy to manufacture for many applications.
unless it leaks, it can’t fail.”
scanning calorimeter to measure the new material’s melting point and specific heat capacity. Once they find the right combination of the two
Top: A Filabot is used to heat high-density polyethylene pellets. Below: This cold plate filled with phase-change material is part of a battery cooling system patented by Embry-Riddle researchers.
materials, that string will be fed into a 3-D printer. “Because we can make it into a filament like that,” Currier says. “We want to 3-D print it. The idea, in essence, is to 3-D print a heat sink out of the plastic.” When it gets hot, he explains, it would absorb the heat, yet it “won’t melt and run all over the place.” CHILLING THE WORLD Though EcoCAR has implemented PCM solely for bat- tery cooling, Boetcher is pursuing many other uses for it. A weather station built by students involved with another project, the Solar Decathlon, will be placed on the roof of the MicaPlex to test the benefits of using the material in solar panels. “We built a prototype box to put PCM in and attached it to the back of solar panels,” Yaney says. “These are all different projects, but whether it’s the Solar Decathlon or it’s EcoCAR, from my side of it, it’s the same thing: the fundamental application of phase-change mate- rials,” Boetcher says. “In solar panels, for example, not only can you use the PCM to keep them at optimum temperature, but you can use a heat exchanger to extract that waste heat for things like domestic hot water use.” The power of PCM even drew Freeman toward an entirely different emphasis. He was taking one of Boetcher’s heat transfer classes, and she encouraged him to come to the lab to work with this material. “I took a wide turn from studying vehicle aerodynamics to doing this. PCM has huge heat storage capacity. That was new to me at the time, how it can be used for anything,” Freeman says. “Anything that needs temperature regulation, this could be used for.”
BATTERY CHALLENGES All batteries produce some heat when
they’re in use, Currier says. The heat produced increases exponentially with the amount of power drawn from them, and the batteries can become not only inefficient, but also danger- ously hot without proper cooling. “When you buy a lithium-ion battery, the manufacturer directs all the heat to one side and you have to put your own cooling device on it,” Boetcher says. “Typically people use an aluminum cold plate with liquid cooling — usually water mixed with ethylene glycol — basically antifreeze.” An active water-cooling system like most carmakers use requires a fluid pump, heat exchangers, cooling fans, hoses and more, Currier says. Its complexity means many failure points. Boetcher wanted to innovate something lighter and simpler for the EcoCAR program, which led to a patent that bears her name along with other Embry-Riddle faculty. THE SELF-CONTAINED HEAT SINK Instead of using a system of heat exchangers and pumps to extract energy, Boetcher suggested a phase-change material (PCM) to absorb all the heat. The PCM she’s using is an oil that is a waxy solid at room temperature, but has a low melting point in a precise range and a high specific heat capacity — the amount of energy required for a material to change from a solid to a liquid. When any compound reaches its melting point, it remains at that temperature until all the material has turned to a liquid.
The phase-change material team includes, from left to right, David Spitzer, Sandra Boetcher, Tami Green, Thomas Freeman and Patrick Currier. Their research takes place in the new Thermal Laboratory in Embry- Riddle’s MicaPlex facility.
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