Clark School Press Release Story

U-Md. Students to Build Inflatable Space Habitat in NASA Competition Finals

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  June 13, 2011

CONTACT:
Melissa Corley
301 405 6501
mcorley@umd.edu

HOUSTON--Students from the University of Maryland’s A. James Clark School of Engineering make up one of three teams selected by NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston to build potential habitats for astronauts traveling to the moon or Mars. The aerospace engineering students, led by the Clark School’s Professor David Akin, are competing in the eXploration Habitat (X-Hab) Academic Innovation Challenge.

The competition is designed to engage and retain students in science, technology, engineering and math disciplines, which in turn will help develop the next generation of innovators and explorers. It could also result in new concepts and solutions that NASA could apply to later exploration habitats.

News media representatives are invited to view the team's habitat from 2-4 p.m. CDT on Thursday, June 16. To participate, reporters need to contact NASA by 5 p.m. CDT on Wednesday, June 15.

The U-Md. students are competing against teams from Oklahoma State and the University of Wisconsin. The winning habitat will be used during NASA's Desert Research and Technology Studies ("Desert RATS") field trials in northern Arizona in September. The winning team also receives $10,000 to offset the costs of their participation.

X-Hab is sponsored by NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate and the Innovative Partnerships Office in the Office of the Chief Technologist at agency headquarters in Washington.

More Information: More Information:
NASA's press release

X-Hab Challenge web site

About the A. James Clark School of Engineering

The Clark School of Engineering, situated on the rolling, 1,500-acre University of Maryland campus in College Park, Md., is one of the premier engineering schools in the U.S., with graduate and undergraduate education programs ranked in or near the Top 20. In 2012, the Clark School was ranked 14th in the world by the Institute of Higher Education and Center for World-Class Universities in its Academic Ranking of World Universities. Three faculty members affiliated with the Clark School were inducted into the National Academy of Engineering in 2010.

The school, which offers 13 graduate programs and 12 undergraduate programs, including degree and certification programs tailored for working professionals, is home to one of the most vibrant research programs in the country. The Clark School garnered research awards of $171 million last year. With emphasis in key areas such as energy, nanotechnology and materials, bioengineering, robotics, communications and networking, life cycle and reliability engineering, project management, intelligent transportation systems and aerospace, the Clark School is leading the way toward the next generations of engineering advances.