PROMOTION OF SATELLITE TECHNOLOGY AND AEROSPACE ENGINEERING THROUGH AN INTERNATIONALLY DESIGNED TABLETOP WIND TUNNEL

摘要

The ALLiance for International Excellence among the future Space workforce (ALLIES), which was established between the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) in Cape Town, South Africa and the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) in Huntsville, Alabama (AL) in 2012,has delivered a third, jointly designed, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) tool- specifically, a tabletop wind tunnel. The wind tunnel will be utilized to promote the awareness of satellite technology and aerospace engineering among the future space workforce in these two nations. The purpose of the tabletop wind tunnel is to function as a STEM tool for St. John's Middle School in Madison, AL and a typically disadvantaged high school, Elsevier, in South Africa. The tabletop wind tunnel allows for the visual observation of flow patterns around various geometrically shaped test articles in order for the students to view the flow streamlines. The learning outcomes in association with the wind tunnel will be incorporated in the curriculum of each Kindergarten through 12~th grade (K-12) school to promote learning in the STEM fields with an emphasis upon satellite technology and aerospace engineering, in general. The learning materials will reflect how airflow, lift, and thrust are directly related to the design of various vehicles, aircraft, and rockets which launch the satellites into orbit. Apart from promoting STEM and satellite technology amongst the learners of the K-12 schools, the engineering students from UAH and CPUT utilized a design process in accordance with the United States (US) National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Systems Engineering (SE) handbook. Thus, the university students garnered tremendous international collaboration and design experience that accelerated their ability to work on international efforts in their future careers. The present paper will provide a brief overview of the ALLIES partnership, the tabletop wind tunnel design process, and the learning materials developed. Early details of the learning outcomes and benefit of the STEM tools upon US and South African K-12 students will be reported.