Find us On Facebook Twitter
News
news and events Events Energy Lectures Sustainability 2011 Sustainability 2010 Sustainability 2009 White Symposium Whiting Turner Lectures Current News News Archives Search News Press Coverage Press Releases Research Newsroom RSS feed Events Calendar events events

News Story

"When I got the call inviting me for a second mission, I was ecstatic."

Heather Bradshaw, ME '09



Current Headlines

Alumna Florence Tan of NASA to Deliver Commencement Speech May 20

36 Clark School Students Accepted into NIST Summer Research Program

Eta Kappa Nu Wins 2011-2012 Outstanding Chapter Award

UMD's Gamera Team Receives Support from Maryland Space Business Roundtable

Clark School Student Wins "Code for Community Challenge"

Goldsman and Peckerar Win Inaugural University System of Maryland Entrepreneurship Award

Clark School Freshmen Compete in Hovercraft Competition

Marcus Selected as Poole and Kent Senior Faculty Teaching Award Recipient

X-51A Waverider Achieves Hypersonic Breakthrough

Pack Receives "Champion of Change" Award from White House

News Resources

Return to Newsroom

Search Clark School News

Research Newsroom

Press Releases

Archived News

Magazines and Publications

Press Coverage

Clark School RSS Feed

Events Resources

Clark School Events

Events Calendar

Bookmark and Share

Mechanical Engineering Student on a Mission to "Mars"

Clark School students Heather Bradshaw, Laura Meyer and Justin Brannan

Over the 2010 winter term, three engineering students from the Clark School traveled to the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in Utah, to participate in a weeklong simulated mission to Mars, where they collaborated with an elite group of students from around the country as part of a multidisciplinary team of researchers.

Chief Engineer of the mission was Heather Bradshaw, a UM BS/MS student who completed her undergraduate mechanical engineering degree last fall. Bradshaw was named Chief Engineer due to her past experience at MDRS. After her first MDRS mission, Bradshaw recalls, "I was thrilled to participate last year, and learned a great deal from the experience. At the time we all thought this would probably be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. When I got the call inviting me for a second mission, I was ecstatic." Bradshaw was also joined by UM seniors Laura Meyer (ME/AE), Habitat Operations Officer, and Justin Brannan (AE), Field Operations Engineer.

Mars Desert Research Station

While at the MDRS site, located near the small isolated town of Hanksville, Utah, the Clark School team conducted scientific research in the dusty crater-filled "Martian" landscape. Their work was part of the Drilling on the Moon and Mars and Human Exploration (DOMMEX) project, which provides a unique opportunity for engineering students to gain hands-on experience with technical and scientific challenges, strengthening NASA’s and the nation's future workforce. Some of the experiments included: Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), soil surveys, endolithic identification, biosignatures of shell fossils, and the application of human exploration operations metrics. In addition to these experiments, Bradshaw also conducted a human factors experiment and an aerial payload mapping project, which included the testing of an on-site geological toolkit and the mapping of various areas of the site, respectively.

Currently working on her master’s degree in aerospace engineering, Bradshaw remains involved with Tau Beta Pi, AIAA, ASME, SWE and ODK. Advised by Dr. David Akin of the Space Systems Laboratory at UM, her research focuses on varying projects related to spacesuit enhancement. Bradshaw hopes to work at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center post-graduation.

For more information about MDRS, please visit their website at http://desert.marssociety.org/.

March 8, 2010


Prev   Next